Volume 2 - CH 37

Too slow. That was my impression of them. Although the knights came at me all at once, I was able to see their movements with ease.

…I had Rufina and Goblia waiting on standby in the sidelines, but it seems I won’t be needing them.

I dodged the knights’ swords and swung my own sword through a gaps in their armour. My sword glided through without meeting any resistance. Soon enough, they let out a delayed scream.

“Guaa!?”

“How-!?”

Surprise, astonishment. The knights screamed with a mixture of those two feelings as their arms fell. Blood dripped down, soaking their feet.

“What!?” Leon’s eyes shot open in surprise. Then he raised his sword and charged towards me, but I rotated to dodge him.

“Shall we do some practice? You’re full of openings.” I wholeheartedly struck Leon’s back. His armour dented inward as Leon tumbled face first into the dirt. After rolling across the ground, Leon raised his head.

I pointed my sword right towards his eyes. “…This is my current power. If you get it, then go back to the upper world already. Then do not… have anyone come here again. I will be spending my time comfortably here in the lower world.”

“…” I turned my gaze towards the lower world managers as they tried to move. They had their hands on the hilts of their sheathed swords, but they didn’t draw them. The knights staggered up, but they only glared at me with cramped expressions.

Then, the next moment. One of the knights brought a magic stone to their mouth.

“…No way, that’s!” Why do the knights have those…? The next instant, power surged through the knight’s body. Leon got up and retreated with a smile growing on his face. He looked pretty pathetic with tears forming at the sides of his eyes.

“D, do it! If you use those magic stones, you’ll become twice as strong as usual! Crush that idiot!” …Looks like Leon knows something about the magic stones. Guess this is a more fruitful endeavor than I expected.

“Ooogh!!” Their war cry was like that of an animal. The knight immediately jumped at me and swung down their sword. As I dodged that, I sliced their arm off.

However, the knights still didn’t stop. The other knight put a magic stone in their mouth before throwing himself at me.

I jumped to dodge his rush attack. The knights had already lost all semblance of reason. All that remained were monsters. They slashed their sword at me while letting out uncanny voices. I took in a small breath before chopping the arms off of the two knights1. Not even stopping at that, as they charged at me, I pierced my sword through their chests.

…Finally, they stopped moving. Leon let out a short squeal behind me.

“M, murderer! K, killer! The knights will arrest you!”

“…Where are those knights? There is no law here in the lower world. All that’s here is life and death. …Leon, what were those magic stones? Does every knight have something like that?”

“…” Leon went silent at my question. His lips were shut tight, but I didn’t want to spend that much time on this. I lightly cut through his arm.

“O, ouch!? Wh, what are you doing!?”

“Spit it out already. What are those magic stones? Did someone make them? Also, what do they do?”

“A, a maid I hired made them. S, she’s a youko, and they strengthen your body… she said.” …A youko, huh. I think Livia mentioned them. She said vampires and youko2 specialize in making magic tools.

…Hold on, there are youko in the upper world? And they’re being employed.

“…And this youko is fine with working for you?”

“She’s, my slave…”

“Even still, I thought humans in the upper world hated other races. Weren’t all the other species sent down to the lower world before?” It was an old story, but it was part of the upper world’s history. Although no one likely remembers that time, those who do remember would definitely hold a grudge against humans for it.

“S, since I’m watching her perfectly, it’s fine.” …I doubt that’s the case. I glanced at the dead knights before looking towards the lower world managers.

“…Could you take Leon with you and head back to the upper world? Also make sure to tell them not to come meet me again.” The lower world managers shivered as they nodded their heads. I sheathed my sword and took a look at Leon before turning my back to him. …But then next moment, magic began to swell up from Leon’s direction.

“Guh!? A, aaaah!? W, what is this!?”

“…Leon! Don’t tell me you had a magic stone too…?”

“H, help me! M, my body… something is, eating away at my body…!” Leon stretched his hand towards me with tears streaming down his face. …What exactly is happening here?

“Hey, Leon, what did you do?”

“T, this is wrong! I, I could control this power up until now! But, but… why…!? Ahh! AAAHH!!” …In the end his words turned into the incomprehensible war cry of a monster. He looked at me with eyes like that of a zombie before charging at me. Fast.

He’s a different person than when we faced each other before.

“Lower world managers. Do you know the way to turn that back?”

“N, no… We didn’t hear anything about those magic stones. He just handed them over and said it was a tool to get stronger! I don’t want anything like that!” Looks like the lower world managers were also given those stones. The lower world manager pitched their magic stones away, so I picked it up. Then Leon looked at the lower world manager and shot towards him.

The lower world manager hurried to draw his sword, but Leon swung his arm, destroying his sword and piercing his body.

“Leon! Your enemy is me!” When I shouted this, Leon leisurely turned to face me. The remaining lower world manager ran away with tears streaming down his face. …As long as one of them is alive, they can relay what happened back to the upper world.

“K, k… k Crest!” …Looks like he still possesses some semblance of reason in him. I don’t intend to take long with this. I flowed magic throughout my entire body before kicking off the ground. I slipped in before Leon could raise his arms. Then I slashed my sword.

I used Livia’s iai as my base. I released a single slash matching that speed, bisecting Leon’s body into two. His body crumbled before melting into the ground like liquid.

…I examined the magic stone the lower world manager left behind. …If it’s the same as the one that the werewolves were using, then I wonder if someone in the upper world arranged that.

As I was about to examine the magic stone with appraisal, “C, Crest!” I turned my head towards the voice calling my name. There was a werewolf there. With their face drained of blood, they held onto a tree and shouted once more. “The slime village is under attack! Right now, Orphe and Livia are leading a charge to protect them!”

…What?

1. Obviously they wouldn’t stop. It’s just a flesh wound.

2. I’ve decided that youko is a mass noun and thus its own plural.

3. I regret translating them to be ‘lower world managers’. That’s super long to type out in English.