ED: I changed the URL to repost it to novelupdates while trying to preserve the comments, but unfortunately it didn’t work. There were some minor changes, but here’s a skip button if you want it. Also, Happy Easter, everyone.
Changed the ‘Invincible Hero’ blessing to ‘Man of Steel [Invincible Superhero]’.
Translator: Rihn
Editor: Zioming
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Chapter 90 – A Bandit Army and Hero Hunting
Author’s Note: Another short story on April 1st this year? I already wrote it. It will be a 3-parter this time. Please rest assured that I won’t go changing things in it once April 2nd comes like last year.
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And thus, a trampling due to an overwhelming power difference between us began.
“Now then, time to hunt some bandits.”
I muttered as I launched myself into the gap opened up by ‘Flying Slash’ with ‘Flash Step’.
Naturally, what awaited me as I rushed towards the centre of the Eludian Army was a torrent of fierce blows. A literal army of adventurers was bearing down on me from all directions. Normally, you wouldn’t be able to handle attacks coming from behind you, but with ‘Map’s help, that wasn’t really an issue. It does grant me a bird’s-eye view after all.
I blocked and avoided the downpour of blades, cutting down adventurers around me as I went. Since this was a melee, I didn’t have to worry about any magic coming my way. Not that I’m weak enough for it to have harmed me even if it did, mind you. But still, the power of the newly enhanced ‘Heroic Soul Blade – Incomplete’ is amazing. It cuts through heavily-armoured warriors, shields and all, like tofu.
“Haa!”
I swung my sword while spinning on the spot. With that alone, most of the adventurers around me lost their upper halves. Seeing this, the surviving ones stopped in their tracks.
“What’s wrong, bandits? Are you done already?”
I provoked them, trying to goad them into coming at me again. Incidentally, there were few dead bodies lying around, as I made sure to periodically collect them into my ‘Inventory’. It’s a hindrance to fighting when you keep tripping over dead enemies, you know. I also use ‘Clean’ regularly to save myself from being covered in blood.
“W-who are you calling bandits!? You’re the one wearing a weird mask!”
“Guh…”
One of the bandits retorted from a distance. To think that the first bit of damage I’d take during this battle would actually come from being called out on that… Shut up. I’m not wearing it because I want to.
“T-that’s right! We’re only here to bring judgement on this country, that’s getting in the way of heroes!”
“Heroes are just, so this country must be evil!”
“It’s the people of this country who are bandits!”
“So don’t get in our way and obediently get killed!”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
“You lot should die!”
“Die, you masked freak!”
One after another, the surrounding adventurers jeered at me selfishly. Not a single one of them doubted that heroes were in the right here, nor questioned what they were doing. Even heroes are human beings, you know. They were just high school students in our home world. What makes you think they wouldn’t make mistakes? And, obviously, I make them too. That’s why I don’t just blindly assume that I’m right all the time, and it’s the same thing this time around. But even if I am the one in the wrong here, I have already decided to follow my heart, just so you know.
“I knew it would be a waste of time talking to Eludians… Enough with this pointless quibble. Come at me, small fries.”
“G-Get him! He won’t be able to handle all of us if we attack at the same time! We have 20,000 people, including heroes! There’s no way we can lose!”
“T-That’s right! Raaaaaahhh!”
A slightly-important-looking adventurer took me up on my challenge and encouraged the fellow adventurers around him. Just like he said, there were more of them coming at me than before. …That said, it’s not like it really changed much. If anything, it just meant that more of them were getting killed each minute now. My DPS is shooting up. Yay! (ED: DPS – amount of Damage dealt Per Second)
Within five minutes, most of the 3000 adventurers who rushed me, all turned into corpses resting silently in my ‘Inventory’.
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With the forward adventurer unit now destroyed, I thought it was finally time to deal with the main body of the Eludian Army, but some heroes were coming towards me instead, the surrounding knights and adventurers making way for them.
“Hey hey, what are you lot doing, failing so hard against just four people? This is why adventurers are useless.”
“That’s right. We even had to come out and help.”
“What are you two talking about? They are only here to boost our numbers to begin with. Why would you ever expect them to be of any use in actual battle?”
The three high school students who came out saying that, were two boys and a girl. The first boy, spouting the line ridiculing the adventurers, was wearing a familiar school uniform, however, it was really worn out, making him look rather irritable. The second boy was about two metres tall, with a bulky physique, while his face, in contrast, looked relatively mild-mannered. Finally, the girl was all dressed up, with heavy makeup and plenty of accessories, which, to put it bluntly, made her look rather gaudy. It’s a shame since she’s not really bad looking.
“Wearing that weird-ass mask, you’re probably not all there, but the adventurers aside, did you really think you could get away in one piece after messing with the Eludian Army?”
“Be careful, Reito. This guy alone killed 3000 adventurers. He might even be as strong as a hero.”
“Ha! You worry too much, Itsuki! There’s no way we can lose to this weird-looking masked guy!”
“Mika is right. Let’s hurry up and kill this guy, and then go back to playing poker.”
Wow, they’re raising flags all over the place. How refreshing. Let’s see, what kind of blessings do these guys have? …Oh, and I don’t care about their statuses, by the way.
<Jet-Black Sword [Darkbringer]>
Creates an indestructible sword of darkness.
<Unsung Hero [Heavy Lifter]>
The body becomes sturdy, and muscular strength is greatly enhanced.
<Sacred Light Arts [Holy Light]>
Allows the use of a light magic-based special attack with no MP consumption.
Hmm, …not much to look at.
“So yeah, hurry up and die!”
The irritable male student conjured a black sword in his hand, and came at me, aiming to cut me down. I don’t know if it was because of his high status, or if it was an effect of the sword, but he was clearly moving faster than the adventurers I fought so far. I swung my ‘Heroic Soul Blade – Unfinished’ at him running towards me, making him try to block it with his own sword.
“It’s useless! This sword is unbreakable! As long as I have it, no attack will ever reach me-”
-supan-
The male student didn’t get to finish his line, as he got split in half. Obviously. Even if it doesn’t break, there’s an overwhelming strength difference between him and me. And if you’re able to push away your opponent’s sword, of course you’ll be able to cut them.
“”Reito!””
The two remaining students cried out in shock when they saw me kill the irritable one. I immediately shoved his corpse and the ‘Garbage’ inside my ‘Inventory’. It would have been a bother if it boosted one of these guys instead after all.
“How dare you!? To Reito!”
“Mika, wait! Don’t act carelessly!”
The female student ignored the muscled student’s attempt at stopping her, and fired a special attack using her ‘Holy Light’ blessing. It seems to be a skill that emits a really thick beam of light, as a huge torrent of it shot out of her palm trying to swallow me whole. Should I avoid it? …Nah, that’s no good. If I do, the adventurers behind me will get obliterated. That’s just a waste of good experience and status points!
“Ha!”
I slashed at the incoming attack, making it vanish, absorbed by my blade. …I mean, ‘Heroic Soul Blade – Incomplete’ has a magic absorption effect, so of course it did.
“”Huh!?””
I suppose It’s only natural for them to become dumbfounded since the powerful-looking magic attack disappeared all of a sudden, but what do you think will happen if you act so carelessly in the middle of a battlefield? See? I took that opportunity to get close enough to reach you with my sword. And so, I mercilessly cut down the female student.
“Eek!”
“Mika, look out!”
However, the male student took my slash to protect her.
“Gaah!?”
“Gufu!?”
…But the slash was so powerful that it penetrated through both of them. The big male student… He didn’t get a chance to show off at all. …Okay, let’s shove these two corpses into ‘Inventory’ as well.
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After defeating the three hard to understand people, the fierce battle continued.
“HAHAHAHA! I am the invincible superhero! No attack can harm me! You villain who killed a hero, come face my BURNING FISTS OF JUSTICE!”
A muscular (for a Japanese person) male student with a cleft jaw and a deeply chiselled face was in possession of the ‘Man of Steel [Invincible Superhero]’ blessing. I see. So that’s why he’s wearing blue-coloured full-body tights.
“HAHAHAHA…Three minutes have passed… My powers don’t work… OH MY GOD!”
I killed the hero who had not been able to land a single hit on me for the entire three-minute duration of his blessing.
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“I have no grudges against you, but as a descendant of the Fuuma clan, I cannot show mercy to an adversary. I’m sorry!”
The one in possession of the ‘Shadow Clone [Remnant Alter Ego]’ blessing was, surprisingly, a female student dressed in a ninja costume. Is she a kunoichi? I guess it fits, given how she’s from the Fuuma clan, and has the ‘Ninjutsu’ skill. Well, the possibility of her being just a high school girl who likes to larp is also not zero… Her name is Kazama Shinobu (15 years old), by the way. (ED: Kunoichi – female ninja, trained in seduction as well as espionage; Fuuma – historical Japanese ninja clan; Larp – ‘live action role-playing’, think: role-play plus cosplay; Shinobi – ninja)
“How… can you tell… where… I am?”
Of course, whether she cloned herself, or disappeared with a ‘don’ and attacked from behind, I could instantly figure it out with ‘Map’s help, so both her blessing and the ‘Ninjutsu’ skill were completely neutralised. The only thing that even had a chance of working on me would probably be the ‘Bedroom Arts’ I spotted in her skills column. Yep, she’s a kunoichi all right.
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“Kneel down before the power of my champions. This is ‘tactics’. This is my power, friend.”
An intellectual looking male student with glasses commanded a group of knights using his ‘Tactical Force [Command Boost]’ blessing. He’s even propping up his glasses like an anime character would. Ugh, you call this tactics…? That’s just ordering pawns to assault while under the effect of a support skill…
“My knights were wiped out, out, out…”
This isn’t the kind of battle that can be overturned with a buff or two. Not to mention, the knights aren’t yours to begin with. I put in the extra effort to thoroughly annihilate the surrounding knights, and properly break his spirit before finishing him off. Normally, you’d go straight for the leader in this situation though, so I pretty much did it backwards this time.
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“Ahh! My masked beloved! Let me at least end your life with my own hands! And I pray that we may be reunited in our next life!”
‘Cosplay [Masked Ball]’ was owned by Yamada Yoshiko (19 years old), class 3C, head of the drama club. She seemed to have been inspired by the fact that we were both wearing masks, as she started talking in theatrical phrases. According to her setting, she and I knew each other from a previous life, we were lovers even, but enemies in this life.
“Aah, my life ends here. Please live on, and I will see you again in the next one…”
She was wearing the clothes of a past great magician, so I stripped them off of her. Her breasts were surprisingly large. And I’m sorry, I guess, but you’re going into ‘Inventory’, so you won’t be able to reincarnate for a while.
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“Fufu. You don’t really think you can make it out alive after facing me, do you?”
The one who came firing a barrage of magic spells using ‘Library Out [Magic Library]’ blessing was Himegami Ayumu (male), about 150cm tall, wearing a schoolgirl’s uniform. I thought he was just a tomboy at first, but he was actually a cross-dresser, huh? Seeing him, I thought ‘girl’, so when I heard him speak, I just thought tomboy, and his name confirmed it, so his gender still surprised me. (ED: In order: dressed like a girl, spoke using a male pronoun, female name, sex listed as ‘male’ in ‘status’)
“When I’m reborn… I want… to be a girl…”
Needless to say, there’s no way level 3 magic would be enough, right? Also, is that seriously the last thing he wanted to say on his deathbed? Or, was it perhaps a serious issue for him?
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After that, the battle with the heroes continued to be fierce.
Or, to be more precise, the heroes’ characters were just too rich, making me mentally exhausted by the end. I decided to listen to all of their speeches as a last act of goodwill, but honestly, it might have been a mistake. For the first time I realised how exhausting dealing with such a diverse lineup can actually be.
And the biggest problem was that, except for the first group of three, they all chose to fight me alone, meaning that I had to listen to all of them in order. It would have been much easier if they had just come at me all at once.
And that’s not to even mention the fact that, tactically speaking, it’s the worst possible decision to engage your enemy in turns, when on a battlefield. If you’re worried about your opponent’s strength, you should use your numbers to your advantage to try and overcome the power difference. I mean, who knows. If multiple heroes attacked me at once, they might have even managed to give me a scratch or two…
Well, either way, while I was thinking about that, I finished putting an end to the last remaining hero. His blessing was something called ‘Inherited Soul [Soul Nexus]’, which apparently made him stronger the more allies died around him. Talk about an egregious blessing. To rely on your allies dying, on top of the usual ‘Garbage’. That’s in super bad taste. He said he didn’t come out until all the other heroes were dead, in order to strengthen his abilities, and his status values have actually tripled compared to what they were before the battle, but well, that’s still nothing more than a rounding error in front of me, so I just killed him like normal.
With all the heroes now dead, the knights and adventurers fell into a state of panic, their ranks and battle lines collapsing completely. Still, there were probably no more than 1000 men left in the Eludian Army at this point anyway. And since the victory had already been decided, it was now time for the clean up.
“Do it, Mio.”
“Roger!”
Following her short response, a huge number of arrows flew in from the rear, not a single one missing its target, as they reaped the lives of the remaining members of the Eludian Army. You often hear about powerful individuals being referred to as ‘monsters’, but isn’t she already way beyond the scope of basic common sense?
And thus, about an hour after the battle had originally begun, the 20,000 Eludian troops, including the heroes, disappeared without a trace. Of course, they are all resting comfortably in my ‘Inventory’. …Because they might be useful for something. Fu fu fu.
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After cleaning up the road that we dirtied (with blood) during the battle with the heroes and the Eludian Army with water magic, and collecting the Eludian Army’s supplies, we decided to go back to Sakuya’s.
“We’re back~”
“Back~”
“Ah, Onii-chan, everyone, welcome back. One second, …um, could you give me about 5 more minutes?”
We were greeted by Sakuya, who was basically buried under a pile of papers, as soon as we transferred to her office. She started processing the mountain of documents at a tremendous pace.
“Y-yeah…”
Five minutes later, I was sitting on a couch in a much cleaner office. Incidentally, the large stack of papers had been carried away somewhere by the minister-like old man I had seen before.
“Sakuya-chan, what were all those documents…? There were a huge number of them too…”
Sakura asked what was clearly on everyone’s mind. I took a peek at them before, and they were stamped with some pretty fancy seals, so they must have been important too. Some of them were even marked as ‘national secrets’ and such…
“As you might expect, they were documents related to the war. We are going to attack the Eludian Kingdom, so there are a lot of documents that need to be prepared. And of course, there’s no way I would have been able to finish all this without Alta’s help…”
“Oh yeah. Sakuya-chan is the head of a country, isn’t she? That’s right, that’s right.”
Mio clapped her hands together as if she’d only just remembered Sakuya’s official title.
“What in the world did you think I was, Mio-chan?”
“Eh? The number one foodie visiting Master’s mansion, of course. The second place is Cattleya-chan.”
“I… can’t deny that…”
Sakuya, the queen of a great country, hung her head in resignation at Mio’s carefree retort. Well, she does join us for a meal almost every day. At this point, I’m more used to seeing her with her mouth stuffed with rice, than when she’s acting like a queen…
“W-well, anyway, Onii-chan. Thank you for liberating the city of Liraluka and destroying the Eludian Army. Thanks to you, we were able to reduce the damage considerably.”
Sakuya, the foodie, said something grand to try and change the topic. I guess I’ll let her distract me just this once.
“Though you say we’ve reduced it, there was still plenty of damage done to Liraluka.”
“You couldn’t have done anything about the damage that had been done before you’d even left. And what’s more, haven’t you done way more than that? I heard from Alta that you even helped the townspeople recover from debilitating injuries…”
More than a few of the Eludian Army’s victims in the city of Liraluka suffered some pretty serious injuries, so I instructed the maids to use ‘Divine Medicine Soma’ on them. Oh, and by the way, it’s the one made by Midori, the dryad. It’s not actually a product of Estia’s dungeon, even though I’ll still present it to the outside world as such.
“It’s fine. I didn’t have to use ‘Restore’, and there’s little point in trying to keep ‘Soma’ a secret at this point. Plus, even if the worst happens and someone does find out, I can always just handle it then…”
“No it’s not, Master. It’s actually a huge deal, right Sera-chan?”
“It certainly is. You probably don’t know this, Master, but after the announcement of ‘Divine Medicine Soma’s discovery, there was a huge uproar in Estia.”
Mio and Sera shredded me with their comments.
Was ‘Soma’ really such a big deal? How come I never heard a thing about this until now? …Then again, I am thoroughly indifferent to things I’m not interested in…
A: As of now, more than half of the explorers active in the volcano area have changed their policy to repeatedly challenging the Elder Trent. As a result, about a week ago, ‘Divine Medicine Soma’ dropped for the first time for someone other than Master. (ED: Plant area – floors 11-20 – 20th floor boss: Elder Treant; Volcano area – floors 21-30 – 30th floor boss: Flame Dragon)
Oh? Someone other than us got their hands on ‘Soma’? I guess that finally proves that it can drop from Elder Trents. Since we were the only ones to get it so far, our claims did lack credibility.
A: Indeed. However, the ones to obtain ‘Divine Medicine Soma’ this time were the party of slave maids who were allowed to play explorers, so, however one looks at it, they are still people connected to Master.
Haah… Someone connected to me, huh…? It’s true that this is the second time it happened, but when you take into account the fact that I’m the dungeon master, it does somehow look rigged… As far as dungeon conquest goes, I give no preferential treatment of any kind to my subordinates (except for an occasional chance to hunt some Flame Dragons, since it’s a good way to test their strength), so I’m not really sure what’s going on here…
A: There is a huge number of people who want them to sell it, and a large scale auction has already been planned. It is currently valued at 50 million gold for the reserve price.
Is that so? That’s certainly a pretty big deal, just as Mio said.
“Rumours have already reached Kastal as well. ‘A legendary item has been found!’ they say. I hate to say it, but for it to be randomly given away to citizens of a small city in the countryside, no one would ever believe it even if they did hear about it.”
“Well, it obviously wasn’t for free. The only people we used ‘Soma’ on were those who chose to become my slaves.”
A: To be more precise, they were given three choices: pay 50 million gold on the spot, become a slave, or give up on having their missing body parts restored.
So yeah, it’s not like we overcharged them or anything. And by the way, all the citizens who were missing body parts accepted becoming my slaves.
“I think the problem is not with the price, but with the Chamber of Advanced Commerce being known to have access to ‘Soma’ in the first place. Are you sure you’re okay with that, Onii-chan?”
“It should be fine. It was so chaotic at the time that no one should have been watching us too closely, and it’s not like we used ‘Soma’ out in the open to begin with… Plus, I’ve kept all the victims in the dark about this, and their assailants are all gone without a trace.”
I did say that I didn’t mind if it got found out, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t take precautions. We also used high-level ‘Slave Arts’ that hide the slave crests, so you won’t be able to tell that someone was enslaved, or was missing a body part even if you do look into it. And in the unlikely case that someone did actually see us do it, we can always just claim that they saw it wrong. …Probably.
“If so, then that’s fine… I mean, Onii-chan, you’re obviously going way past what I asked of you, right? Alta says that the city’s restoration is also progressing at a rapid pace… I mean, I’m grateful for that, but it’s probably too much, right?”
“Isn’t it fine though? The only ones who will lose on this speedy recovery are the Eludian Army, right?”
“That may be true, but I feel like my debt to Onii-chan is getting bigger and bigger, and I’m not sure if I should feel sorry or what…”
Sakuya held her head in her hands as she groaned.
“Ah, that’s right! The reward! Onii-chan’s reward hasn’t been decided yet, so please tell me what you would like. You can ask for anything. I’ll do my very best!”
Come to think of it, we did not talk about the reward yet. Hmm, something I want. What could that be? …Ah, that’s it. There is one thing that only Sakuya can provide.
“I thought of one thing that I want, and it is something that only Sakuya can give me.”
“What, what? Please tell me what it is!”
“Then, without holding back: what I want is the Eludian Kingdom.”
“…Huh?”
I guess she didn’t understand the meaning of what I said. Sakuya and everyone else around me tilted their heads.
“You were talking about invading Eludia earlier, right?”
“Yes. They went too far this time no matter how you look at it, so it’s only natural for us to hold a grudge. And so, it’s imperative that we get back at them. But to go as far as to destroy the entire country is a bit…”
Sakuya said as if she was troubled by my claim, but since Eludia’s destruction has already been decided, I won’t be swayed on this point any more.
“I have two requests, and they are both related to the invasion of Eludia. The first is ‘a request from Sakuya’ for me to officially take part in the war, and the second is for me to be involved in the handling of the Kingdom of Eludia after it’s destroyed.”
“Hmm. What does Onii-chan get from that?”
Sakuya asked curiously.
“The first request would give me a just cause to attack them, and the second one would let me obtain something that I want within Eludia.” (ED: No-CB-ing someone is a major stab-hit after all)
At this time, there is no other country with a legitimate claim to invade the Eludian Kingdom other than the Kastal Queendom. I mean, Eludia literally declared war on it. And likewise, the liberation of Liraluka and the defeat of the Eludian Army were both done at the request of Sakuya, which, in other words, makes them socially justifiable actions.
Now then, let’s consider instead what would happen if I were to randomly go to the Eludian Kingdom and destroy its capital? I’m sure I would be treated as a regular terrorist, right? I mean, it’s not like I don’t have a justifiable reason to do so, given what Sakura and I went through (banishment from the royal capital with a high possibility of death), but that hardly constitutes a legitimate public right.
In any case, I would like to attack Eludia with my own hands, and for that, the just cause of ‘a request from Sakuya’ is absolutely necessary. Plus, Eludia came at us citing a cause that was vague to say the least, so it’s only right that we pay them back in kind.
I explained it like this to everyone.
“I see. That certainly is something only I can provide.”
“On the other hand, it also means that you will have to take responsibility for my actions. That’s why it makes sense as a reward…”
If a request has been made, then it means that the responsibility for my actions will likely be extended to Sakuya. Or, in other words, I want my reward to be her taking responsibility for them. Of course, I don’t intend to do anything that will harm Sakuya, …except for destroying Eludia, that is.
“I see. If we decide to call it Sakuya-chan’s request, then it means that she has to take responsibility for it as well… Then, Sakuya-chan, is this reward suitable or not?” (Mio)
“Naturally, it is. Or, to put it more bluntly, it’s much too late for me to back out of all this at this point. To begin with, Onii-chan killed the heroes following my request to liberate the city of Liraluka. There’s no way I can just ignore his actions now.”
“Now that you mention it, it really is too late now.” (Mio)
If you think about it, the moment she asked me to get involved, she should have already expected me to refuse to show any mercy, given the Eludian Kingdom being the adversary. I don’t think Sakuya of all people would ever not realise that.
“Besides, to be honest, it would be plain reckless for us to fight a war against Eludia and the heroes if Onii-chan didn’t participate. And on the other hand, with Onii-chan’s help, our victory is as good as guaranteed, so I would very much like you to help us. If possible, I’d like you to spare me from completely destroying them though…”
Sakuya answered Mio’s question immediately, almost without thinking. This means that we have now acquired a proper cause to destroy Eludia. And even if she did say it absent-mindedly at the end there, I still won’t compromise on its destruction.
“In which case, what is the point of Master’s second request?”
Sera urged me onward.
“Ah, after we destroy Eludia, Kastal will be the one to manage their territory, right? I want the right to act freely at that time.”
Simply put, I want the right to choose who lives and who dies within the Eludian Kingdom. I may not be resentful enough to want revenge, but I’m also not lenient enough to outright forgive them for what they did. The only good memories I have of the Eludian Kingdom are of meeting Dora, Maria, and Mio, and even that is in no part thanks to them, so I don’t owe them a thing.
“Whaa…? Onii-chan, you’re making an evil face…”
“It will probably never get used to Master’s evil face.”
“Un, it frightens me every time…”
Zzz…
Sakuya, Sera and Mio were all taken aback by the look on my face. …How rude. By the way, Dora is currently sleeping on my lap. It seems around the time when we started talking about the reward was her limit.
Considering all that’s happened up till now, there’s not a shred of guild left in me for wanting to invade Eludia, nor do I have any intention of caring for it after it becomes a defeated country. Of course, I do not intend to do anything bad to people who were not involved, but neither do I intend to absolve those who were. After all, I do have to pay them back for all the hospitality they’ve shown me.
“Haah, well, I think I can manage if it’s just that. It’s a war, so I don’t think everything will go the way we plan anyway, and if it’s just Onii-chan getting involved in the post-war management, then I don’t really mind.”
“Then, can I ask you to do it for me?”
“Yes! Please leave it to me!”
Ok, now I have successfully obtained the right to invade Eludia. Should I put the mysterious Queen’s Knight Jean to work again?
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“Which reminds me, this isn’t the first time Kastal is about to invade Eludia. Granted, last time it was technically done by Romarie, but to the public, it was still as if Sakuya herself did it.”
“Ugh, …please don’t remind me of something so unpleasant.”
Sakuya said, wincing. It seems to have been a pretty traumatic experience for her. Still, it feels like just yesterday that Romarie, who used a cursed sword to impersonate Sakuya, gathered the country’s top adventures to attack the Eludian Kingdom. …No, maybe it’s been a bit more than that.
“That time, she was going to start a war by having high-rank adventurers sneak past the heroes and assassinate the Eludian royal family, but what about you? Are you also going to gather adventurers, even when they might end up clashing with the heroes?”
“No, we won’t be using adventurers this time. To begin with, I don’t think there are many who will be willing to side with Kastal in this war, given there being a high chance of that happening. Plus, in the worst case scenario, they might even betray us at the very last moment and join the heroes’ side instead…”
Honestly, I don’t really get it, but for some reason, people tend to view heroes very favourably in this world. And it’s especially the case among the general public. I mean, since they were summoned from another world to defeat the Demon King and all, I guess it’s only natural for them to be given a certain amount of preferential treatment, but if you ask me whether the heroes have actually done anything worthwhile, then I can only say no. Well, the sad part is that I can’t deny the possibility that I’ve only met the worst of what the heroes had to offer so far…
A: The evaluation of heroes sent out to various places by the Kingdom of Eludia varies greatly depending on the place. To the east of Eludia, namely, in Kastal and Estia, the royal families have a negative opinion of the heroes, while the people are generally supportive of them. To the north, such as in Sanokia Kingdom, both the royal family and the people are extremely supportive of them. To the south, it is neither good nor bad. (ED: Sanokia Kingdom’s hero was last mentioned in ‘Side Story Chapter 4: The Sword Saintess’)
I see. So the north and south sides were better. I guess my luck was just bad… not really. Rather, I’m glad they were people I wouldn’t hesitate to crush. By the way, there is no country to the west of the Eludian Kingdom, so it was omitted. It’s the demons’ territory after all.
“Then, it would have only been the Kastal knights that would have fought? …You really would have been destroyed if it had gone badly.”
“That’s right. That’s why I’m extremely grateful to you, Onii-chan.”
“How about trying ‘Onii-sama’ instead?” (ED: A more formal way of addressing your older brother)
“Eh? Onii… -sama?”
Hmm. That’s pretty nice.
“Ugh, It feels kinda icky! As expected, ‘Onii-chan’ just feels right.”
“Hmm, too bad.“
I would have welcomed it, but unfortunately, Sakuya didn’t really feel it. She acts pretty formal, most of the time, so it wouldn’t be unnatural for her to call me ‘Onii-sama’…
“Ah, then I’ll-”
“Rejected. It would complicate things in many ways if Mio did it. Not to mention, you’re older than me if we add your ages.”
“Stooop iiit, don’t add my aaages… Or rather, you usually treat me like a child, so don’t suddenly treat me like I’m older only at these times…”
Mio tried to take the ‘younger sister’ spot, but I mercilessly shot her down. I wish 24-year-old women would act more befitting of their age. Well, with Mio collapsed by the punchline, I think it’s time to end our conversation with Sakuya.
After this, Sakuya will gather the knights to officially begin the war, and make various arrangements with the parties involved. Since I am completely out of the loop on those matters, I will leave it to her. Alta, please support her.
A: Understood.
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Author’s Note: I think it’s bad for the main character to not hesitate to kill a fellow student, even if it is a former one. (It might be a bit late for me to say this though)
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