Volume 3 - CH 4.4

“So, a lot happened, as you can see. Your mother was really put to work.”

“Wow, I can’t believe what my mother’s personality was like.”

“She calmed down a little more after she got married… But it looks like you have a few monsters that you’re keeping as pets. She was the same. Although, she never tamed a cyclops…”

“You know about Ain?”

“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I run this town. I know almost everything that goes on here.”

Airis chimed in.

『She’s lying. She was curious about you and had one of her subordinates look into it. She doesn’t seem to be causing any harm, so I kept quiet about it.』

Reito was surprised but glad someone was watching out for him. He was confident that Maria really was Aira’s sister. They had different personalities, but her appearance is similar.

Maria smiled at her nephew Reito.

“I don’t mind you entering Bal’s guild, by the way. But, if you ever decide to switch sides, I’d love to welcome you to my guild.”

“Is your story finished? Mind if I interrupt?”

All of a sudden, Bal’s voice could be heard from behind the door. She walked inside with a sword-looking object wrapped in cloth.

She moved in front of Reito and offered it to him.

“Behold, this is yours, right?”

“What? You already repaired the holy sword!!”

“No, that’s still underway. It appears it’s going to take some time. It’s a substitute until that sword is ready. But, I still can’t believe you’re Ms. Aira’s son. I was dumbfounded when I heard you were the son of the king.”

“Were you listening to our conversation the whole time? Those kids can’t even keep watch properly,” Maria said in reference to her attendants.

Bal answered, “they’re outside taking a nap. Don’t worry, they didn’t do anything. I just made them pass out with a wave of the hand.”

“Those little shits.”

“Gigan? You’re here too?”

Fang Dragon’s Guildmaster, Gigan, appeared in the doorway. Reito was surprised to see a giant man who was even larger than Gonzo. In both of his hands, he was holding members of Maria’s envoy.

“Ah, shit.”

“I’m sorry, Lord Maria,” Daia said.

“Train your subordinates properly. They don’t even deserve A-ranks if they’re going to be this incompetent.”

“That’s true. I’m going to have to revisit my requirements for A-rank.”

Gigan let go of the adventurers as Maria sighed in shame.

Reito looked at the wrapped sword before him. When he opened it, he found a long silver sword. Pulling it out of its sheath, it glimmered like a mirror.

Bal, who was now sitting on the sofa, gave an explanation, “That there’s a reflection sword.”

“Reflection sword?”

『Do you remember the door in the cellar in the Monster Controller’s mansion? It’s a longsword made out of the same material as that door.』 Airis’s explanation rang through his head.

Reito was about to ask why Bal had given this sword to him before noticing that Gigan was staring at him.

“So, you’re Reito?”

“Uh, uh, yes… Have we met before?”

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Gonzo. A human who can wield such a large saber is quite impressive.”

“Hey, are you trying to say I’m a freak too?” Bal interrupted.

“I don’t mean it in a bad way. Why don’t you give the sword a swing?” Gigan suggested.

Gigan suddenly reached his hand out toward Reito. Reito immediately put “Leap” into action and went flying toward the wall. Gigan’s jaw dropped at Reito’s lightning-fast movements.

“What in the world?”

“So that’s the leap skills that could beat any assassin.”

“That’s my apprentice right there. He’s a promising young adventurer. Don’t test him too much.”

“Are you not going to stop this?”

“It’s a good chance. Reito, take down that man. Feel free to use a weapon!!”

“What!?”

“Go ahead, try me,” Gigan said.

Reito was flustered at Bal’s sudden challenge. Gigan thumped his chest as if to say, don’t hold back. Maria drew a big sigh. Reito got ready.

“You’re going to pay for this, Bal! I’m gonna put a slime in your shoe at night!” Reito said.

“Hey, cut it out. Are you trying to get my feet all wet?”

“What a cute threat,” Maria said.

“Give it all you got, let’s go,” Gigan said, standing like a Buddhist guardian deity statue.

Reito reluctantly grabbed the reflection sword. Bal said he was allowed to use weapons, but Gigan himself seemed to have no weapons or tools on him.

Reito hesitated on using a sword versus an unarmed opponent, but Gigan continued to pound his chest.

“Don’t worry, come on!!”

“Yeah, but…”

“I said let’s go!! I’m a giant. Come check out my ‘Harden’ ability.”

“What…”

“Reito, there’s nothing you can do to convince these two.”

Reito looked at Maria, hoping to back out of the fight, but she just tactfully grinned and shook her head. There was nothing to do but follow their orders.

Reito drew a breath and went to fight Gigan. He grabbed the sword with both hands.

“A longsword, it’s been a while.”

“So you’ve used a longsword before? I thought for sure you’d only used large sabers.”

“I used to use them a lot back in the forest. It feels comfortable.”

“That sword can repel magic. If you were to sell it, you’d easily get a clean 300 gold coins for it.

“Three hundred gold coins. So, 30,000,000 yen!?”

“What?”

Reito was surprised at the exorbitant cost of the reflection sword.

Gigan made no indication he was going to move. Reito figured he should test how powerful the Giant race’s “Harden” skill was. He swung his sword.

“Ha!!”

“Weak!”

Gigan changed his skin color to red for a brief moment as Reito cut him from the front. The sword blade was repelled. Reito was very surprised, but he kept composure and yelled.

“What kind of a swing was that!! You couldn’t even bruise me at that rate!! Give it all you got!!”

Bal’s “Harden” skill could strengthen the muscles in one specific area of the body. But Gigan’s version hardened all the muscles in the body, it appeared.

Figuring it would be pretty difficult to actually harm Gigan, Reito put some auxiliary magic into play.

“Full-body Reinforcement… or maybe it’s gravity? Either way, this sword is useless!”

“…?”  

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but did you by chance try to use magic? That sword repels magic, so none of the power from the magic will go into the attack,” Bal said.

“What’s wrong? Come get me!!” Gigan taunted.

Just as Bal said, the reflection sword was repelling the magic, so his specialty, “Gravity Blade,” was not going to work.

Reito used Stark Blade, combining Strike Blade with conventional battle tactics. He approached Gigan and swung.

“Helmet Smasher!!”

“Hnn?”

Reito had aimed the sword at Gigan’s trunk. Gigan noticed the drastic change in Reito’s attack and used “Harden.” He was able to withstand the blow.

A splatter of blood came from Gigan. It appeared the Reflection Sword had pierced his skin.

“What the…!?”

“Oof!? That was rock hard…”

“Hold up a minute… Did you just cut Gigan? No way…”

“That’s my nephew, cutting the man of steel…”

Bal’s eyes were wide open after Reito managed to make Gigan bleed. Maria complemented Reito.

Gigan looked at the cut on his arm and laughed.

He looked at Reito, “I didn’t expect you to wound my flesh… Excellent work. I guess that’s why Gonzo praised you so much.”

“Umm, thank you.”

“Bal, you really do have the right to brag about this kid after all. You could give him an A-rank right away, and that wouldn’t be inappropriate.”

“I’m the one who decides that. It looks like he’s gotten a lot stronger before I even noticed. But, I don’t just give out A-ranks handy dandy.”

Bal knew about Reito’s situation and was trying to avoid him becoming too famous. That’s why she dodged Gigan’s suggestion.

Reito and Gigan decided to end their fight there.

“Sorry, Reito, but we need to get back to our discussion. I’ll remember you.”

“You all need to get out as well. When we get back, I will deal with you accordingly.

“Y-yes!!” the attendants replied in unison.

Everyone except the Guildmasters left the room.

Checking that everyone had properly left, Bal, Maria, and Gigan began discussing a strategy to attack the Rotten Dragon.

◆◆◆

Reito left the room and noticed some Hailstorm adventurers passed out in the corridor. They appeared to be foolish adventurers who brashly challenged Gigan to a fight.

Reito thought it would be pitiful to leave them there on their own, so he lined them up on the wall and used recovery magic on them.

“Are you all right? Are you conscious?”

“Uh… Sorry.”

“Thank you…”

“Ow… That meathead bastard. He should have gone easy on us.”

They all appeared to have regained consciousness. They gave their thanks and continued down the corridor before Maria returned.

However, one of them remained behind and just stared at Reito quietly.

“…Hey.”

“Is that, Ms. Daia? Ms. Daia, why are you here?”

“Oww… Be a little more gentle.”

It appeared even Daia, the most capable adventurer of the Black Tiger guild, was unable to wound Gigan.

Daia apologetically said, “You saved me, Reito. Sorry for trying to entrap you back there. My bad.”

“I’m not too concerned. Yeah, I’m not mad. No way I’d be.”

“Oh, okay.”

Reito strengthened his tone of voice as he talked to Daia.

Reito, who usually wasn’t too pressed about such matters, had to ask Daia why she switched teams.

“Why did you change to the Hailstorm Guild? We were all surprised.”

“A lot happened… But you’ve really been active recently, huh. Did you polish your skills or something?”

“Um… I suppose you could say that.”

“I suppose little brats grow up fast.”

Daia didn’t mention why she left the Black Tigers and instead listened to Reito’s story about what she had been up to since he’d left. But, she also appeared to be thinking about something else.

She suddenly proposed something to Reito.

“Hey, will you… train with me?”

“Train?”

“Yeah. When you first became an adventurer, you would spar with either me or Bal, right? I want you to show me your skills.”

“Umm… That’s no problem, but.”

Reito was a bit puzzled, but the two of them headed to the garden where they used to spar.

Reito got his extermination blade ready. Daia pulled out her longsword.

Daia was a Martial Artist and a Swordsman as her occupation.

Ordinarily, Daia wouldn’t keep a sword on her. Usually, she was able to beat opponents with her bare hands alone.

But, this time, Daia had her longsword prepared. She was ready to fight.

“This is a perfect chance. I’ve always wanted to fight you without holding back. I’m not as soft as Bal, so give me your all!!”

“…So, I’m also allowed to not hold back?”

“Duh!! If you slip up, I’ll kill you!!”

Looking at Daia’s intensity, Reito ascertained that she planned to fight at full strength. Reito readied his extermination sword and thought about the Practical Skills Test he took when he first came to the guild as an adventurer.

He should be more skilled than that point in time, but his opponent was the Black Tiger’s former top swordsman. It was definitely not the sort of opponent he could be careless with. Reito grasped his sword and tried to look for an opening to attack.

“What’s wrong? If you’re not going to attack, I’ll come for you myself!! Spin Strike!!”

“Hmm?”

Unlike Garura, Daia came swinging at full speed right from the get-go. Reito attempted to retreat, but Daia kept on at full force.

“What’s wrong!! Are you running away?! You coward!!”

“Ho…!!”

Garura wasn’t able to make the rotation move horizontally like a Beyblade. However, Daia was in complete control as she spun not only horizontally but diagonally and up and down, changing her orbit in the process.

Showing no signs of letting his speed drop, she persisted in driving Reito into a corner.

Reito had initially planned to retreat and let Daia’s stamina diminish. However, he realized she wouldn’t be satisfied if he won by merely waiting until Daia ran out of energy. He decided to face her head-on.

“Helmet Smasher!!”

“Ahh!”

Just like when he battled with Garura, Reito mustered the strongest strike he could manage. The two blades collided, and a piercing metal sound was made. The two of them were blown back.

“Woah… That was quite the hit.”

“Heh… Are you still trying to fight?”

“Of course, dumbass!! Did you think I’d be satisfied with just this? I want you to surpass me!!”

Daia had a bloodcurdling expression on her face as she readied her sword. She used Rotation again.

Seeing that, Reito felt a little uncomfortable but set his sights on Daia anyway.

(Could Ms. Daia be trying to kill me…!?)

She showed no signs of holding back and had the same energy she had when she was fighting for real. It was not the aura of a regular swordsman but of a master trying to make her pupil grow.

Daia was not trying to beat Reito but to have him overcome her entirely.

“What are you doing!! Don’t just stand there!! Swing your sword!! Beat me!!”

“… Rotation!!” Reito shouted”

Reito grasped his Extermination Sword so as to not lose out to Daia’s energy. He began swinging his sword around, reaching full velocity before striking.

“Take this!!”

“Ahhhhh!” their roars rang through the courtyard, releasing an even more fearsome metallic noise than before. The noise of their blades breaking rang out.

Daia was lying on the courtyard’s ground while Reito looked down at her. Daia had an expression that suggested she was satisfied before she decided to explain the real reason why she left the Black Tiger guild.

“To be honest, I’m planning to retire soon.”

“What…?”

“I’m going to have a kid soon… Before the kid is born, I had to save up money to hold me over until I find my next job.”

“Why did you choose Hailstorm?”

“Hailstorm Adventurers have almost unlimited access to high-ticket jobs. Further, as a Hailstorm Adventurer, your family receives insurance money if you die in the middle of a commission. I needed to make a whole lot of money before the kid came. I felt bad because Bal had taken such good care of me,” Daia muttered forlornly.

She looked at the conference room window that Bal was in now. Daia felt like she could see herself looking at Bal for a split second. Reito got in the way and looked at Daia.

“So, that’s why you switched to Hailstorm?”

“Well… Yeah. The only regret I had was I didn’t properly get the chance to train you… But it looks like that was a needless worry.”

“Ms. Daia.”

“I’m not going to tell you that you’ve gotta be the mainstay of the Black Tigers forever or anything like that. But, I want you to keep that person in mind. That’s all.”

Daia laughed at Reito, who had defeated her and climbed to the top of the Black Tiger hierarchy through raw ability alone. She offered him a handshake.