Part 3 – Chapter 009 (Chapter 346)
Title: Honeymoon 3
T/L: IonMan
Editor: Zioming
Editor Notes:
A quick update, now that we’ve burned through the stack of translated episodes we’ve prepared before Christmas, were back to the regular schedule, meaning IonMan working on 10 projects at the same time, and me not able to do much on my own. We’re doing what we can, but please understand it’s just one of several projects we’re currently involved with.
What did the helmsman of the sinking Titanic say to the captain?
– But the whales, we’ve avoided swimmingly…
There’s a quick change in the previous two episodes. “Emeron” and “Gabbad”, which I didn’t recognize at the time and translated as [Guard] (DarkSilencer just left it as “gabubado”), were command words used to activate Toris and Bell’s magic swords’ effects. “Emeron” covered Toris’s sword in flames, while “Gabbad” cast a [Bark Skin] on bell (at level 100, up to 3 times a day).
Raw Chapter: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9511bs/400/
– – – * * – – – ** – – –
Year 7448, Month 6, Day 5
Based off their past experiences in Baldukk, and the further warnings they have received from the local knights, Toris and Bell headed for Mihas, the finest inn in Doran, while paying constant attention to their surroundings. They fully expected to be attacked, by the friends of the people, whom they have just caught, on their way from the knights’ garrison to the inn, but in the end, no one showed up. The two left their horses with the inn’s stable boy and unpacked their luggage in a fairly high-class suite, costing 80,000 Z per person per night.
“Fuu, so that’s how it’s going to be …”
Toris, sitting on a cosy sofa in the living room, grumbled, while putting some of the money, they have brought with them, into a smaller purse, to pay for dinner. Only silver coins were placed in the purse, while the smaller denominations were just thrown into his pocket.
“I’m so angry. I just bought this blouse …”
In the bedroom at the back, Bell, with her top removed, exhaled with a sigh, looking over the leftover scraps, of what used to be her new blouse, spread over the bed. As she noticed the traces of her own blood, stuck to the back side of the torn blouse, Bell’s face became distorted with regret.
“Right. At least I didn’t get seriously injured.”
There was a 1 cm long cut on the side of the blouse. Luckily, that was the full extent of the damage causes by the arrow. However, the pain, caused by the hit, still made it temporarily impossible, for Bell to invoke magic at her regular speed.
“Still, I don’t really want to wear armour during my honeymoon …”
Bell folded up the torn blouse, which was no longer wearable, shoved it into the saddle bag, that she brought up to the room earlier, and changed into a new set of clothes. Most of the cloth, the blouse was made of, wasn’t damaged, so it might be possible to reuse it to make something smaller.
“Well … that’s that.”
Trying to be cautious, Toris asked her to wear her armour, since they were alone in Doran, but Bell responded with “We may not get another chance to go somewhere alone in the future … I want to make some good memories on this trip”, making him give up on the idea. In a world, where you couldn’t contact your relatives, like in modern Japan, she already had to give up on a flashy reception, and a pure-white wedding dress, that most girls dream of. As such, she didn’t really feel like giving up the right to dress up during their trip as well. Moreover, she was the one who made Toris choose Doran, as a safer alternative to their initial planned destination.
At first, Toris wanted to visit the city of Genewell [1], the second largest city in the kingdom after Rombertia, the capital city of the Duchy of Apside [2], stretching north of the royal territories. There was a species of large land turtle, called “Matt Turtle”, that lives in that region, and its meat-based dishes were said to be delicious and very delicate.
ED Reminder: Royal territories included the Rombert Dukedom in the centre of the Rombert Kingdom, where the Kingdom’s capital city, Rombertia, and the neighbouring dungeon city, Baldukk, were located, as well as several other neighbouring territories owned directly by the King. One of them was the Rondol Dukedom, currently governed by the 2nd Prince, and its capital city, Doran.
As great as that sounded, she still vetoed the idea of travelling north, as Gwine’s map was not very detailed, and lacked in security-related information around Mt. Milkha [3], located between the royal territories and the Duchy of Apside.
As such, Toris chose Doran, to fulfil Bell’s desire to dress up, stroll around the city, and slowly enjoy the scenery.
He felt disheartened, about making such a mistake in selecting their destination.
“… but we can’t keep worrying about this forever, so let go eat!”
Bell, who had already changed into a new outfit, reminded him enthusiastically. Her cheerful voice immediately dispelled all the gloom he felt, due to this blunder.
“You’re right. But let’s bring our swords, just in case…”
“Un, that’s only natural. But I won’t bring my bow, as it gets in the way.”
The image of Bell, smiling brightly, as she did her best to support him, made her look dazzling in Toris’s eyes.
Although she wasn’t wearing a skirt, her blouse had delicate laces around its collar, long sleeves, and a conforming chest, that, along with the rubber-soled boots hugging her light grey pants up to her knees, exuded a refreshing appearance of slender beauty. There was a bright red thread embroidery on one of her chest’s sides, that further accentuated the whole look. Her jacket also had several small flowery patterns embroidered on a black background with gold and silver threads.
Toris gazed at her figure again. He noticed he hadn’t changed his clothes yet. Or rather, there wasn’t really much difference between most of the clothes he owned, as they all looked quite alike.
His rubber-soled boots were meant for traversing the labyrinth, so it was unavoidable for them, to have a rugged design, just like Bell’s, but they were not the problem. His plain pants were functional at best, made of a thick, stiff, and durable material, making them well suited for horse riding, plus, their plain brown colour made the stains less noticeable. On top of that, during the day they both wore chaps, a sort of leather pants, with the parts around the butt and crotch cut out, for the purpose of horse riding, on top of their pants, so it didn’t really matter what they wore underneath. As they had deep pockets on the thighs, to put a wallet and other necessities in, they weren’t very fashionable, and were mostly made with practicality in mind.
Bell wore a new pair of chaps with a more fashionable design and knitted sides. Since hers had no pockets to store smaller items, Toris jammed all of Bell’s belongings, including her wallet, into his pair of chaps yesterday.
As for the top part, he wore a dark navy-blue round-necked shirt, with no collar, underneath a white blouse without any frills or other decorations. The outer layer was just a dark green leather vest.
Although Toris was not a noble yet, he did order a blouse with flashy frills, laces and decorative cloth sewn onto it, similar to the one worn by Al, in anticipation of being knighted in the fall. However, the order itself was quite complicated and time-consuming, so his formal clothes weren’t ready yet.
“I need to up my game.”
Toris felt remorse in consideration of Bell’s feelings, of trying to dress up for their honeymoon. Bell waited for him to change out of his unfashionable and sweaty chaps and replace his dirty blouse and vest with washed ones at the very least, before putting his purse with 20 silver coins into his pants’ pocket.
“You’re making me wait, come on.”
When he finally got out of the room, Bell smiled softly, as she entwined her right arm with Toris’s left one.
– – – * * – – – ** – – –
Year 7448, Month 6, Day 6
Yesterday they enjoyed several big lobster dishes, a speciality of Doran, at a high-class restaurant introduced by the inn, and both returned to their room early, without drinking too much strong alcohol, and settling on a single beer instead. After that, Bell forcibly pulled Toris into bed and enjoyed him to her heart’s content. Because of that, they both overslept a little, and had to take a break from their daily routine of jogging at dawn.
They headed to a stylish restaurant in front of the inn, with their swords equipped, for a late breakfast. Today Bell wore a dark brown tunic and pink bottoms. Toris put on a front-opening tunic with thick dark blue vertical stripes over a white background.
It was 9 o’clock in the morning.
Even nobles used to have breakfast before dawn on Orth. And sure enough, although the stores were empty inside, preparations for lunch had already began. Since the weather was good, and they didn’t want to interfere with the preparations, after the clerk’s eyes acknowledged them, they decided to eat on the terrace facing the road.
They enjoyed a quick breakfast of sandwiches and scrambled eggs. After the meal, the two relaxed, and went over their schedule for the day, while enjoying some tea from Reida.
ED Reminder: Reida was some place where they made high-quality tea
“Let’s climb Mt. Mismotch first. You said it has a great view, right?”
“Sure, let’s do that!”
The pair returned to Mihas and asked the boy from the inn for directions on how to reach the summit. It took about five hours one way on foot, but it was twice as fast on horseback. If they left immediately, they would reach the summit before noon. There were several teahouses near the summit, so they didn’t have to pack a lunch box.
They decided to set out for Mt. Mismotch, as soon as their horses were ready. Toris changed into the same clothes, he had on yesterday, while Bell simply put on her new chaps.
They run into one of the knights, they met last night, a few minutes after leaving the inn. He was just about to set out on his regular patrol route towards Mt. Mismotch. It was just the right timing, so the knight offered to guide them to the best spots along the way. The two visitors to Doran gladly accepted the invitation to tag along.
Several people were watching them from a back alley. A hyumu man, a lieutenant of the criminal group Akatsuki, Zingal [4], who had recently suffered some bad luck, along with his minions. There was a brand-new scratch on his forehead.
“Oi, they have a knight escort. They have good clothes and horses too … are they nobles?”
“… They probably are … Oi, you there. Report to the leader. Tell me if there’s anything, that goes wrong.”
“Ooh sure.”
It was said that even a child could be silenced (by force) in Doran, but it was not a good idea to assault an opponent, who had knights attached as escorts. If a day ever came, when a knight got hurt, even if the injuries were not serious, and no one died, the Knight Group would still crack down on Doran in full force. The man, who called himself Toru, the leader of Akatsuki, was very cautious of such unwritten rules, and made it a point, to never face the knights alone.
Zingal muttered, while staring at the backs of his minions, who disappeared into the back alley.
“Well, it’s not like I have to take them head on … Let’s just figure out if those two are actually nobles first …”
– – – * * – – – ** – – –
Year 7448, Month 6, Day 7
“Let’s go to the beach today. We can see the triplet rocks from the cliff!”
“The beach, huh? Sounds nice… Let’s do it!”
“I love the beach, the sea spray on top of the waves, raised by the blowing wind, looks just like little white flowers in full bloom!”
“Oh? I guess it does. Let’s go see it… By the way, your clothes today, they look great on you.”
“Ufufu. Thank you.”
Bell wore a cute yellow-green yukata-like top with a front opening over a white under-shirt. It was tied with an eye-catching green sash. Below, she wore a pair of slightly loose-fitting, dark-skinned pants. Something, that, in Japan, would look a bit out-of-place, regardless of the colour.
The cliffs were situated less than a kilometre from the city. It was a very popular sightseeing destination, and thus, it was always pretty crowded. Not only were there stores, to accommodate the tourists, along the cliff’s plaza, but also high-class restaurants, where one could savour their meal, while enjoying the magnificent view.
Their destination could be easily guessed from the direction they departed in.
There were multiple figures watching them inconspicuously from a back alley. A male halfling, a lieutenant of the criminal group Akatsuki, Gamulan [5] the “thousand-fingered”, and his minions. By the way, though Gamulan was not as good as their leader, Toru, he was still pretty good at pickpocketing.
“They are heading for Doran Cliffs … Let Mina [6] know.”
“Right!”
Gamulan muttered, while staring at the backs of his minions.
“It’s impossible to attack them discretely along the Doran’s coast … plus, we still have to check their status first. Well, she will get things done.”
Mina was a halfling, like Gamulan, who sold fruit juice to tourists at the plaza along the cliffs. She was twelve years old. She had a small body with a fragile look, the kind, that made sympathetic wealthy tourists feel sorry for her. She would usually sell over a 100 cups of fruit juice to such suckers at inflated prices every single day. There were several male and female scammers like her in the plaza, but they all remained within their respective zones.
The Akatsuki had their fingers in many other businesses, beside the criminal acts. Since they were already well-established in the city, they were given a certain degree of freedom, since, by the sheer fact of existing, they prevented the rise of new criminals, and the overall crime rate from going up.
The act of lugging around a heavy barrel of fruit juice and ice in a wooden box was a considerable amount of work, so most people would not pursue this kind of business. However, there was usually an increased demand for fruit juice among tourists in the early summer, when it starts to get hot, so it sold, even at an increased price.
– – – * * – – – ** – – –
“Are you certain, they are commoners?”
The laios leader of the Akatsuki asked the girl shivering in front of him.
“Yes, leader. They are merely a commoner couple, that’s right. And it seems that they just got married the other day. And, they came to see some nice scenery to commemorate their marriage…”
The halfling girl, Mina, answered while recalling the daytime events.
― S-Sorry!
Mina staggered and bumped into Toris and Bell on purpose, as they were passing in front of her.
― Aah, I’m sorry for bumping into you. Are you injured? …… Hee, is that grape juice? My throat was getting parched, so I was looking for a drink. How about you Bell?
― Me too, then, I wonder if I should also have a cup.
They both bought the fruit juice, before Mina even said anything. Even though it contained ice, it was at a rip-off price of 500 Z for a full cup.
― Ah, thank you very much! Are you two visiting?
Mina asked while putting crushed ice in a cup and pouring grape juice from the barrel.
― Eeeh, how did you know?
The bunny-kin woman laughed and replied while waiving. She pulled out a large copper coin from the small coin purse hanging on her waist at the same time.
― It’s easy. I’ve been doing business here for three years now … Are you a newly-wed couple?
Mina asked while receiving the payment, all the while thinking, that it was unlikely for the two people of different races to be married. However, she didn’t miss the atmosphere of the two being lovers. She bet on that slight possibility, feeling pretty confident about her chances, despite how unlikely it was to be true.
― Heeh, you got some great insight.
Being embarrassed, the male elf received the juice with a grin on his face. The boy was very handsome, with the eyes and nose somewhat reminiscent of the face of the leader.
― Alrighty, let me guess when you got married?
This allowed her to successfully pry into their status, as a way of confirming the answer for the guessing game. It was rare for it to go so well, as some disliked the idea.
She quickly realized that these two were quite friendly, but when something alarmed them for a moment, their gazes were sharp and terrifying enough, to immediately make her think, that they were not ordinary people.
However, what was in front of Mina right now, was the leader Toru, who has swiftly risen in the underworld during the last six or seven years, with no one left to match him in swordplay, nor knife handling skill. Even his pickpocketing skills were well-known, and the envy of many. Seeing the pair several more times throughout the day, she quickly found herself attracted to the elf boy, as he reminded her of her boss, with a similar name.
“… They aren’t nobles, nor knights. At best, they’re just some wealthy adventurers.”
Toru grinned, while rubbing his chin, after listening to Mina’s report. Newly-weds and their honeymoon trips were not that uncommon, among those, who lived the good life. Doran was a city, that has benefited greatly, from visits, by such wealthy travellers, willing to drop a lot of coin.
“But leader. That couple knows we are after them. Maybe they’re used to the rough life …”
Mina presented a terrifying suggestion.
“We already know that, stupid!”
Gamulan, the “thousand-fingered”, suddenly yelled at Mina, who was one of his direct underlings.
“The two of them have already beaten up five of our members, Zoey included. I’m sure, that they can use three types of elemental magic. But leader, this is why we can’t stay still. The Akatsuki’s name has been stained. With the Black Blades and Red Spiders after us, we should deal with this as soon as possible.”
Gamulan continued to spew with hatred.
Listening to his outburst, Mina bit her lips, while saying in a quiet voice “I knew that.”
The leader Toru hated those, who wasted his time, by saying pointless things. There were heaps of people, who got beaten up by Toru, after angering him, by uttering nonsense in front of him. However, Mina, being young and still inexperienced in life, did not realize, that she was being tailed by Gamelan all this time. Listening to them talk, while feeling pretty bitter, Zingal thought to himself, “Let me interject, like this small-time point-earning bastard-of-a-lieutenant is always in the habit of doing!”
“It’s exactly as Gamulan says leader. We already know that they have no backing, so let’s just take care of them! Tonight, or tomorrow, leave them to Carol [7], when they leave the inn …”
Zingal, unwilling to tempt his luck, also agreed with Gamulan. His line of sight was still focused on the women sitting next to the leader.
“… I hate being messed with the most. You can’t show any weakness in this industry. I’m fine with letting Carol do the killing, but she has to make it a proper carnage… make sure she knows. If you’re gonna do something, make it showy enough, to leave everyone trembling in fear, at the very thought of ever going up against you again.”
Toru glared at Zingal and Gamulan, as he told them, while pushing away the women on his sides. Mina’s eyes were dazed, and her presence became smaller, as she kept trembling.
“Of course, and we all know Carol. She’s famous for her unbeatable Flame Arrow…”
Gamulan said with a mysterious look on his face. Carol was the best magician in Akatsuki, and she used to belong to some Knight Group. However, she didn’t get appointed as a True Knight, and ended up a lieutenant in a criminal group instead. Still, being a lieutenant of Akatsuki, she was still considered quite a big shot in Doran’s underworld.
She used to run a small robbery group during her drifting days in Doran, but lost in a duel with Toru and became one of his underling. Toru also struggled quite a lot against her flame arrow, which she could unleash at god-like speed, during their duel, but he managed to overcome it, by picking up a lid of a barrel, that was lying on the side of the road, and handling it dexterously, to use as a shield, allowing him to make her admit defeat, and grabbing the victory in the end.
By the way, Carol was currently watching Toris and Bell at Mihas, with a few of her minions.
“Alright… wait for Carol’s report. Oi you, go tell Carol what we were just talking about.”
Toru gave instructions to Mina, before returning to the sofa. The women poured some sake into his extended cup, while making merry with him. He took a sip from the sake cup, while staring at the back of Mina leaving the bar, before muttering in a small voice, that only the women next to him could hear.
“Time to catch some fish…”
– – – * * – – – ** – – –
Year 7448, Month 6, Day 8
“The weather is nice today, Toris.”
“Ooh, it really is. Where are we going to go today?”
“Well, for today, how about grabbing something good to eat. Rattalin [8] is famous for its meat pie, and Al-san said that the Valesquel [9] store has exquisite seafood soup, didn’t he?”
“Sounds good. Let’s go! It’s going to be a fun day.”
“Is that so? Thank you very much.”
Bell was wearing a new set of clothes today as well. Only the boots were the same as usual, while above them, she wore black leather shorts, that exposed a large portion of her thighs. On top, she wore a sleeveless collarless yellow cardigan with a sleek design and an open front without any buttons, over a white top, that was short enough, to show off her navel.
It boasted an exposure level, that was quite rare for Orth, and as such, it attracted the eyes of most men on the street. Even the shapes of the large twin mounds, hidden under the top, were further accentuated by a bra, making them even more attractive than usual.
This particular style of tying the shirt was a bit outdated, but thanks to a nostalgic feel, it was still quite popular among young Japanese women.
It couldn’t be helped, that a thick sword belt and a magic sword hung on her left side.
“But, I wore such clothes before I knew it…”
Her words popped out involuntarily.
“Ufufu. I made it at Mash’s [10] a few days ago.”
Mash’s was a not-so-expensive clothing store in Baldukk.
“Eeh, you can tailor your own clothes there?”
“Nn, a bit. The tailors in the royal capital are the best for luxury clothes, so just a little bit of this … I’ve been ordering with Gwine and Ral there quite a bit lately.”
“Fuun.”
Trying to regain his composure, Toris extended his left elbow towards Bell, who wrapped her right arm around it and happily looked up at his face.
“Let’s go.”
The two left the inn to chill out, at either a speciality restaurant, or an open-air bath.
Multiple figures were watching them from a back alley, trying not to stand out. The wolf-kin woman, a lieutenant of the criminal group Akatsuki, Carol, armed with a set of metal claws, and her minions. Carol excelled at magic, which she learned during her knighthood training days. She also specialized in close combat fighting, using the poisonous claws embedded at the back of her hand.
ED Note: A set of 3 blades attached to the back of a glove, kinda like Wolverine from X-men. Just type “claws weapon” in google to see what it looks like.
“Now, everyone, follow them.”
“Yeah!”
“Katz-san [11], please don’t make too much noise.”
“Eh, yeah…”
The group of several people led by Carol moved surprisingly stealthily, and in a blink of an eye they scattered and began to follow Toris.
– – – * * – – – ** – – –
“Fui, I ate it all.”
“It was delicious!”
Toris and Bell came out of a restaurant. After discussing where to go next for a moment, they started to move. Their next destination was a restaurant called Beaugies [12]. A group of five men and women were watching them from a nearby shadow.
“… Big sis, they just ate at that last place a moment ago …”
“Fu-n. Whether we’re kidnapping or killing them, it’s better for them to be full and sluggish, right, big sis?”
“Eeh. And it looks like they’re going to Beaugies. Then, we should go to Kalha Street [13], and cut them off before they reach Rable Street [14].”
“Alright, let’s head off! First, Rosy [15], you go tell leader about this. Hogs [16], you go to the north of Rable Street, Jacqueline [17] to the south, big sis from the front of Kalha Street and me from behind.”
“Eeh, I’m fine with that, but don’t forget to buy as much time as you can, until Toru-san arrives.”
The five figures separated and disappeared in a blink of an eye.
“Did you find out how many were there?”
Toris asked his wife, while heading to Beaugies, a famous restaurant known for its stewed lamb dishes.
“Nn, probably four people so far today, I think. Even if I use [Detect Life], there are too many people around us … sorry.”
Bell answered apologetically. The [Detect Life] spell had a radius of 120 meters at Bell’s magic level, but, since it revealed all beings with a certain life force, it was hard to determine the exact number of enemies. Furthermore, since the spell revealed the positions of targets at the exact moment of casting, it was impossible to determine, whether they were moving or stationary.
The two have noticed various people tailing them for the last few days. Since their first day in Doran, from the moment they left the knights’ garrison, they never stopped paying attention to their surroundings. Unless an organization was really small, most criminal groups behaved in a similar way, as they all shared common motives. There were plenty of criminal groups in the city of Baldukk, and most of their motives could easily be imagined. However, Toris and his partner didn’t really want to get involved with them, unless forced to do so. For their part, they just wanted to know the number of people tailing them.
Even so, it reminded the two, that the [Detect Life] spell was pretty much useless in a busy city, where there were too many targets all around them, and only a rough impression was given, as to the direction and distance towards them.
– – – * * – – – ** – – –
As Toris and Bell walked down the road toward Beaugies, browsing through the food stalls, they approached a crossroads connecting to a small back alley.
“Welcome, sir and madam, could I take up a moment of your time?”
A man leaning against the wall at the end of the crossroads approached them and asked.
“Finally.”
“It was starting to get on my nerves, I’m glad it’s finally over.”
The two responded with big smiles.
“Hooh?”
The man in front of them uttered, in a slightly impressed voice, but the two slowly looked around without minding him.
From the back alleys, both on the left and right of the crossroads, one man and one woman were approaching them with sinister laughter. Another woman exuding a swordsman’s persona was approaching from behind. There was a bit of traffic, however, it was of no concern.
“I see. It seems that you have already noticed us, good.”
The woman coming from behind laughed with her jolly cheeks, while covering her mouth with her left hand. They all stopped at a distance of about 5 meters from the pair. The new comers all wore something akin to cloaks, with only the left half of their bodies exposed.
“Now then, what the heck do you all want with us? We’re busy right now.”
Toris cautiously reached out to his left hip, while putting up a faint smile. Bell also reached for her waist and already grabbed the handle of her sword. By now, the two were already quite used to being surrounded by enemies.
“Well, you still got to take responsibility.”
The man, approaching from the alley on the right, said. His hand reached to his waist and took hold of a handle of a longsword. The passers-by, that saw and heard the man near them, quickly turned around to move slightly away from the place, before stopping at a safe distance, to watch the further development.
“Responsibility? For what?”
Bell replied, while keeping a keen eye on the woman, who already held her hand on the sword on her waist, while approaching them from the back alley on the left, but her tone was slightly humorous, like Toris’s.
“Oh my, you can’t even remember three days ago … That’s why you crazy little monkeys are in trouble.”
The woman standing at the rear retorted.
“That’s right, it’s a big mistake to think that the Akatsuki would do nothing, while its members are being killed! Claire!”
“If you do it, we also won’t hold back. It’s common sense, right?”
The two, that were approaching from the left and right with stern looks on their faces, began shouting, as if something suddenly made them furious. A few passers-by also noticed the threatening war cry and began to move away. Fighting was only considered entertaining by the lower class, as long as they didn’t get involved themselves.
“The Akatsuki is crying for revenge.”
“Aah, are you referring to the five people, that were handed over to the Knights in the evening three days ago?”
“So, it really was the two of you?”
“Is that true? Just the two of them, and aren’t they still young?”
“And such a fine-looking bunny-kin woman, well, sucks to be you!”
The onlookers started to throw random comments.
“Look here everyone! Make sure you pay attention! Witness the horror of the Akatsuki!”
The man standing in front of Toris shouted at the surrounding onlookers, but neither Toris nor Bell were affected by his actions. They had both experienced countless fights with adventurers and criminals since their arrived in Baldukk a few years ago.
“Fine. I guess I prefer the woman behind us, who uses magic. I’ll take her on, but be careful of other things going on around us as well.”
“Sure, go for it.”
Because the woman, who approached them from behind, remained at a distance, Bell deduced, that there could be some kind of projectile magic included among her attack methods.
“Before we begin, I want to check some things. First, what is Akatsuki?”
TL Note: Piss off a famous group by crying ignorance of their existence. Weak taunting game.
Toris hollered out, to spurn the other party’s anger, in order to remove a little of their cautiousness. The tone of his voice, was like making a fool of the other party.
“… you dare mess with us.”
“To not know the name Akatsuki.”
You could see the man and woman were on the verge of exploding.
“Calm down everyone. Am I right to assume you don’t live in Doran, since you’ve never heard of Akatsuki?”
The woman standing behind them said calmly, making the group calm down for the time being.
(… Some of them were level-headed.)
Toris acknowledged that, yet inwardly screamed, that it would have been much easier for him, to ride on cheap provocation.
“Then? What is Akatsuki really?”
Toris asked again while knowing. While he separated his right hand from the handle of his sword, to show his intention, he shoved his left hand into the pocket of his pants.
“We are the Rising Dawn, that’s who we are!”
TL Note: 暁 = Akatsuki = The Rising Dawn = freaking corny, but need to give a title for effects.
The man approaching from the back alley on the right said with visible frustration.
“I see. So that’s what the name of your group happens to be. Then, next thing. What do you mean by responsibility? Even if you say it’s about something from three days ago, I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Toris spoke calmly. However, the four people, who heard the statement, expressed their anger with their facial expressions respectively.
“Aah, I cleaned up some trash, that we stepped on, on our way to the city. Maybe that’s what you’re talking about? They even tried to set up some weak-ass retarded trap. Honestly, it should have been the king’s duty, to flush out the criminals and clean up such trash. It’s only natural. Eh? Maybe they belonged to the Akatsuki? Is Akatsuki just another bunch of criminal trash!?”
Toris provoked them again on purpose. His left hand, that was shoved into his pocket, came out as a fist. Several loose coins from the pocket were held inside.
“That’s enough! Let’s kill them already! “
“I’m done being mocked here!”
The Akatsuki members exploded in their rage and began to raise a threatening roar. Finally, the two that came from the back alleys on the left and right drew the swords from their scabbards. Seeing this, Toris also reached for his sword.
“Fufu, is that all there is to Akatsuki? The Doran’s criminal groups are kind of … maybe, they are the irreparably stupid kind … “
Bell raised her chin, as she threw a side gaze at the woman behind her.
“Oh my, you can still say such things, even in this situation, little monkey? Looking at how you’re dressed, you’re probably as dumb as one too. Aren’t you going to catch a cold…”
The woman approaching from behind, put her left hand on the shoulder of her cloak, that covered the right half of her body. Then, she grabbed the cloak and threw it up, making a distinct sound.
The right hand that emerged from under the cloak was covered with a large metal protector with a menacing and scary design. Though not as strong, as a proper shield, it seemed strong enough to block some attacks, with the width of about three times that, of a grown man’s arm. From the tip of the back of the hand, around the fist, three long claw-shaped blades extended. The claws appear black and wet.
Then, the woman, Carol, extended out her right hand, which was hidden behind the cloak, while throwing something from behind her back with her left hand.
The fiery [Flame Arrow] was launched from Carol’s left hand. It only took her one second to use this magic spell! Bell was also amazed at her skill.
Bell’s chest was the center of the flaming arrow’s trajectory. It was an obvious target, as it was the largest area to aim at, but the bigger reason, was that Bell had already rushed towards her.
The bunny-kin charged towards Carol, while pulling out a short sword hanging on her waist. However, she was still surprised by the extremely high speed of Carol’s magic invocation.
You’re dead!
Carol smiled, while lowering her evil claws. She could easily predict the effects of the magic attack she just released at such a short distance. Ever since her time in Viscount Hague’s Knight Group, she never stopped practicing the deadly attack she was so proud of. The number of times she’d used it in battle has easily exceeded 1000. Although it only took one second to cast, the mental concentration for such invocation of magic was quite harsh, and the perseverance to continue practicing it every day was not ordinary.
… usually, that it.
“Gabbad!”
Because it was so conspicuous, Bell immediately saw through Carol’s actions and began to concentrate on her own spell, without getting distracted by the movement of her right hand. While dashing towards Carol, she invoked the spell’s command word.
“Wha!?”
Carol leaked out in astonishment. A magical blue light covered the entire body of the lightly-dressed bunny-kin woman! Not only was the light only visible for a moment, but it could only be seen by other magic users.
“Magic while running!?”
Of course, it wasn’t actually Bell’s magic, but the effect of her [Short Sword of Sturdy], though the result was pretty much the same.
“This is absurd!?”
Bell spotted the [Flame Arrow], the moment it was released. In response, she bent down a bit while running and took on the amount of deadly magic that Carol released!
Instead of piercing through, the spell scattered and disappeared without leaving a trace, as if it had hit a hard stone wall, the moment it touched Bell’s forehead.
Carol hurriedly raised the protector at the back of her right hand, to try and block Bell’s incoming thrust.
Though she barely managed to block the attack, Bell’s strength was stronger than Carol had imagined, causing her to step on her cloak and lose her posture.
She managed to parry the second thrust as well, but one of the three blades protruding from the back of her hand broke at the base.
The steel claws!?
It was a completely unexpected situation for Carol.
She managed to catch the third thrust, although she was panicking a little from the sudden shocking event. Yet again, another blade was broken.
The custom-made claw, that allowed her to freely thrust, parry, slash at the flesh, and spill the blood of so many sword users she’d faced in the past.
It broke that easily …?
It would be bad if she broke the last one too!
She felt endangered as she hesitated about her success in parrying for the fourth time. The calmness disappeared from Carol’s face, and a deep shade of impatience began to replace it.
Bell had already discarded her impression of surprise, due to the skilfully invoked magic attack, and her remaining expression was like a Noh mask.
TL Note: Totally expressionless.
Carol had barely any experience in dealing with groups of monsters, like those, that nested in the Labyrinth of Baldukk, since, so far, she had mostly clashed with single human opponents, or fought as a part of a larger group.
Toris, on the other hand, started to move as soon as he recognized he was surrounded from the front, left and right, as he pulled out his flame sword from its scabbard, while the three opponents were still approaching him. First, he rushed towards Jacqueline, that was approaching from the left, as, being a woman, she looked to be the weakest one.
“Emeron!”
Toris chanted the command word.
As a flame emerged covering the blade, the tendons in Jacqueline’s left arm were cut before she could even react.
Although the cuts were deep, the burns caused by the flame sword stopped the bleeding.
Toris struck his left fist, still filled with coins, into Jacqueline’s contorted face, using the blow to stop her in her tracks, before immediately turning around, and causing a wind magic explosion right behind his back, sending himself flying towards Katz and Hogs, who were approaching from the other side of back alley.
Both of Hogs’ hands, that were holding a sword, got chopped off from the bottom, and then, Katz was hit by the sword, as it returned, with its whistling tip striking at his throat.
The stubble covering Katz’s chin made a tingling sensation.
“Surrender quietly. Then I won’t kill them, and they can both be treated for their wounds.”
Hogs was rolling around and screaming from the pain of losing both of his hands.
At a distance, Jacqueline, with her nose crushed, remained in agony, as she rolled around without moaning.
Behind Toris, there was Carol, feared throughout the Doran’s underworld as the “Evil Claw”, currently struggling to defend herself against the flurry of incoming attacks.
Katz was feeling pressured. He didn’t have any sympathy for Hogs and Jacqueline for letting themselves be so easily provoked. Also, he never expected the elf, who was currently pointing a magic sword at his throat, and the bunny-kin woman, who was toying with Katz’s superior behind him, to be so strong. Especially for the woman, he couldn’t even comprehend, how she didn’t hesitate against Carol’s magic at that distance.
“Oi, you should give up before she gets seriously injured. Decide before I finish counting from five.”
Not yet, huh?
You can do it.
“Five.”
As long as they can bring their leader, Toru. No matter how strong these two are, they wouldn’t be able to handle Toru’s sword technique …
“Four.”
Anyway, even if we don’t get the timing down as originally planned.
“Three.”
Hogs and Jacqueline’s carelessness was regrettable, but they’ve already paid for it. They were easily provoked. It would be nice if these two halfwits ended dead.
“Well, hold on.”
When Katz opened his mouth.
While glancing at the onlookers, that were looking from further in the back alley, where Jacqueline was rolling around, he finally caught a sight of the leader.
“Oh, master!”
Katz shouted with joy. Almost at the same time, Carol’s voice that was overwhelmed with pain, cried out “Gu! Tssk! Damn it!”
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Footnotes:
[1] Genewell (ジーンウェル – Jīn’u~eru) – Second largest city in the kingdom after Rombertia, the capital of the Duchy of Apside
[2] Duchy of Apside (アプサイド公爵領 – Apusaido kōshakuryō) – Territory in the Kingdom of Rombertia, north of the royal territories
[3] Mt. Milkha (ミルハー山 – Miruhā yama) – Mountain between the Ducky of Apside and royal territories
[4] Zingal (ジンガル – Jingaru) – Hyumu man, one of the four lieutenants of Akatsuki
[5] Gamulan (ガムラン – Gamuran) – Halfling man, one of the four lieutenants of Akatsuki
[6] Mina (ミイナ – Miina) – Halfling girl, member of the Akatsuki
[7] Carol (キャロル – Kyaroru) – Former Knight Group member, one of the four lieutenants of Akatsuki, group’s best magician
[8] Rattalin (ラッタリン – Rattarin) – Restaurant in Doran
[9] Valesquel (バレスケル – Baresukeru) – Shop in Doran
[10] Mash’s (マッシュズ – Masshuzu) – Clothing store in Baldukk
[11] Katz (カッツェ – Kattsu~e) – One of Carol’s minions
[12] Beaugies (ビュージーズ – Byūjīzu) – Restaurant in Doran
[13] Kalha Street (カルハ通り – Karuha-dōri) – Street in Doran
[14] Rable Street (ラブル通り – Raburu-dōri) – Street in Doran
[15] Rosy (ロッシ – Rosshi) – One of Carol’s minions
[16] Hogs (ホグス – Hogusu) – One of Carol’s minions
[17] Jacqueline (ジャクリーヌ – Jakurīnu) – One of Carol’s minions