Volume 2 - CH 115

In the room, Alena and Satella are passing the time by playing a hand game taught by Reizen-dono.

Reizen-dono knew what children liked to play.

If we teach this to the children of the oni, it will become very popular.

I would like to return home and teach them as soon as possible.

Since I have some free time until Ouren-sama and Reizen-dono come back, I’m in the middle of maintaining my weapons with small files.

It has been a while since the last battle, but I realized that I had not taken care of my weapons, so I hurriedly started to do so.

It’s shameful that I forgot to take care of my own weapons.

I had plenty of time, but traveling with Ouren-sama, I seemed to be getting tense.

This is something I need to correct.

I keep telling myself that, but it is not so easy to fix.

Ouren-sama told me not to worry about it, and he is a generous man who forgives a little bit of discourtesy.

However, …… I can’t talk to him as casually as I do with Tenda.

Hmmm, I’m in a bind.

However, Ouren-sama also said that he never felt offended.

It seems that I have a certain attitude when I deal with Ouren-sama, and if I force myself to change it, he may think I’m being rude from time to time.

He said I should be able to relax my tension and keep my honorifics. ……

This may be more difficult than mental discipline.

I don’t think I can treat you as an equal, Ouren-sama.

Muttering this in my mind, I carefully polish the three claws attached to my bracer.

……The blade is very battered. I may have overused it.

If it is this battered, it would be quicker to repair it by sharpening it with a whetstone after dismantling it.

Unfortunately, however, I do not have a whetstone.

The only thing I have is this file.

Since it is not possible to completely repair the blade with just a file, I sharpen it only to bring out the edge of the part of the blade that has not yet been spilt.

This does not mean that only that part of the blade can be sharpened.

If I only sharpen the part of the blade that has not yet been sharpened, the blade will be deformed, even though it is not visible to the eye.

It takes a considerable amount of time to sharpen the edge straight again.

Therefore, I sharpen only the tip of the blade in a gentle stroking motion.

Since this claw is double-edged, it must be carefully and slowly sharpened only when sharpening the back edge of the blade.

If I do it wrong, the blade will slide back to the other side again.

I should probably use a finer-grit sandpaper, but I don’t have one …….

Again, I don’t have it.

So, I have to do everything with this.

“… Alright.”

Hold the sharpened blade in the sunlight and observe it closely.

Check the way the light runs on the blade and where the blade is exposed to the sun.

Then, check for distortions that can be visually identified.

The last one can be seen clearly when the blade is put on the whetstone, so there is no point in looking at it with the naked eye, but it is still something that is somewhat obvious.

I lift and stow the claws, which were lowered on the back of my hand.

This is a convenient bracer.

When I swing my arm, the claws come down and I can immediately equip my weapon.

When I am finished, I let go of the handle and lightly swing my arm to stow it away.

It moves smoothly, so it is safe even if it is not oiled yet.

With that in mind, this time I equipped the other side with claws and started sharpening.

This time I’m not sharpening with my dominant hand, so it’s a little difficult to do, but I tell myself that this is also practice and I will take care of the other weapon.

With that in mind, I equip my claws on the other side this time and start sharpening it.

This time, it is a little difficult because I am not sharpening with my dominant hand, but I remind myself that this is just another practice, and I go on with the other side of the weapon.

I looked over at Alena and Satella, who were sitting facing each other.

They were staring at each other with a serious look on their faces, with a pillow and a rolled up cloth placed between them.

“” Rock-paper-scissors, shot! “”

This is another game that Reizen-dono taught them.

I think it is a very good game to train reflexes.

The winner beats the opponent’s head with a rolled up cloth, and the loser defends their head with a pillow.

Mhm. It is a wonderful game.

I can sense that the idea was to have children learn to play with swords from childhood.

Even if you are convinced that you have won the first game of rock-paper-scissors, you cannot win if your opponent does not attack.

If you are not careful, you will soon either be defended or get attacked.

One move to win, and another to secure the victory.

You can either attack or defend …….

Blade …… is more like a sword, it is filled with elements that are used in battle.

Whoever thought of this play is a great man.

Watching the winners and losers, it seems that Satella’s reflexes are better than Alena’s.

One after another, Satella was able to snatch victory from Alena.

However, Alena is also fighting back.

Although she is still not as good on the defensive, she is relentless when it comes to attacking.

Alena’s attack was unrelenting. She swung the wristy cloth like a whip and hit Satella with it.

Just swinging it around with brute force won’t do it.

But the two don’t seem to care much about winning or losing, and whether they win or lose, they laugh and start playing the next game.

It’s good that they get along well with each other.

And I resumed the maintenance of my claws again.

At that moment.

“……Hmm?”

I could sense the presence of something from far away.

A strong killing intent.

Something was warning me, making my skin tingle even from here.

It was in the direction to the west where Ouren-sama and the others had gone.

I wanted to go check the situation immediately, but I was entrusted by Ouren-sama to guard Alena and Satella.

I couldn’t just leave them here.

But this killing intent is …….

If I don’t check the cause of this, it will be bad.

There are many injured people in this inn.

And there is almost no one who can fight among the villagers.

If there was anyone who could fight, this village would not have called in adventurers.

I can check or …… wait here and figure out the situation before making a move. ……

“Uchikage. What’s wrong?”

Alena called out to me.

I was trying to make an expressionless face to avoid being noticed as much as possible, but it seems I couldn’t …… hide it.

“No, there’s something …”

“? A something?”

“Uh …. There’s something that’s been bothering me.”

Alena is still a child. She probably doesn’t understand what I mean when I use the word “a something”.

I said it without thinking because it is a word I use often.

“Something that concerns Uchikage? I’m curious….”

“Don’t mind me……”

“…”

Not good.

Both of them have taken an interest in my business.

Given the killing intent, I can easily see that something dangerous is waiting for me.

I can’t let these two out of the house.

However, it is very difficult to shift a child’s interest to something else.

I want to do something about it, but I can’t come up with a good idea.

What should I do? ……

BOOOUUUU!

Immediately, there was a loud roaring sound.

The sound was like that of a torch being shaken wildly.

Surprised by this, Alena and Satera both crouched down and huddled together.

Under the circumstances, they would not be able to force themselves to go along with me.

“Arena, Satella, please wait here! Okay?!”

They nodded their heads in response.

As soon as I confirmed this, I used my 【Herculean Legs】  to leave the inn.

It took me less than two seconds.

I went outside to check the surroundings.

Grass and trees were on fire in places, and several houses were on fire.

As far as I could hear, it was a single explosion, so only one shot was enough to spread the flames to this extent.

Furthermore, it was raining outside, and the trees, houses, and grass on the ground were wet.

And yet it was on fire.

And in a little open area of the village, there was a large pile of dead dogs.

Everything was so charred that for a moment I couldn’t tell what it was, but then I saw one dog a short distance away, dead in its intact form, and I was able to determine that it was a dog.

Probably an Acid Dog.

But Acid Dog was supposed to have been taken down by Ouren-sama and Reizen-dono.

Then why are they here?

But more importantly, there must be someone somewhere who has caused this fire.

Equipped with recently sharpened claws, I carefully looked around.

How hot were the burning trees, wood, houses, vegetation …… Was the flame always that hot?

I also checked with the residents to see if they had sustained any damage, but the flames were so strong that I couldn’t be sure.

After looking around at the flames for a while, I suddenly felt a strong presence.

I quickly turned my head in that direction to check it out.

The first thing I saw was a pile of dead Acid Dogs.

I felt a strong presence coming from that direction.

I checked again carefully and found him at the top of the pile of dead Acid Dogs.

They have fiery red hair, which is pulled up to expose their forehead.

Except for the back hair, which seems to be long and bunched up in the back.

Ridiculously long haired tail hair.

It probably goes all the way down to their waist.

Their face were slender and attractive, and it had the appearance of a graceful young noble.

But in contrast, their eyes were like those of a beast, hungry for something, but strangely not threatening.

It was dressed in dazzling white armor rather than …… the clothes it was wearing …….

In some places, gold carvings and decorations give it a luxurious feel.

Like a holy knight.

The most eye-catching item was the flaming spear she carried.

Everything was on fire, including the blade and handle, as if it were made of flames.

The guy stood on the summit of Acid Dog, raised the spear of flame to the sky, and announced aloud their name.

“Attention, all of you! I am the guy who defeated the monster that haunts this village! Hear me! Heed my name! I am the rumor of the town! I am Houen (Phoenix)!”

The rumor in the town?

That’s what Uchikage muttered to himself in his mind.