Chapter 74: Conflict in Riles and Chuuni-Fantasies
Narrator POV
At the Round Table Meeting of the 12 Guild Masters
“Uhmnn… I have something to report on my end…”
One of the guild masters on the round table said.
Oddly enough when the man started to speak, he gravitated the attention of the other guild masters.
Normally, people would not take one's words seriously when one speaks in such a bored and uninterested manner.
But for some reason, once this individual spoke the attention of the other guild masters was caught.
They were eager to hear what he was about to say, but there was a teasing smile on their faces as they listened to his voice.
Out of all the guild masters here, the one who just spoke was the youngest amongst all of the guild masters in this round table.
And again it would not be a surprise if the more experience guild masters would ignore his opinions.
Ultimately, they all listened to his word with undivided attention.
The person continued talking as is.
“Oho, what does Sir Svencity have to say.” <Yrganth/Grandmaster>
The grandmaster said with enthusiasm toward the young guild master.
The young guild master is the youngest of all guild masters who is acknowledged to be a part of this round table.
He is also the youngest S-rank adventurer and his capabilities and competence are recognized by the strongest adventurers in the world.
This man is the Guild Master of Artesia Empire’s Capital.
The youngest and probably the strongest of all adventurers, Guild Master Svencity.
Svencity continued to speak with an exhausted-sounding voice.
He quickly noticed the teasing gaze of the other guild masters but he tried his best to shrug them off.
“-sigh- Uhmm… so I was saying, over 5 months ago something unusual happened in one of the cities here in the imperial capital.” <Svencity>
“Oh… Are you perhaps talking about that incident?” <GM Kodduc>
Quickly, the guild master in charge of the Marchial Kingdom reacted to this particular report.
Of course, he would react after all this incident has been at the back of his mind.
It was no surprise that Kodduc was interested in this matter.
He knew that the Marchial Kingdom was involved in this incident as well.
Svencity nods in confirmation of the Marchial Kingdom Guild master’s suspicions.
The incident that Svencity wanted to report was about the commotion that happened in Altus 5 months ago.
Hordes of undead suddenly appeared from mysterious portals of unknown origins.
It was during the battle with the undead.
Subjugating the monsters needed the participation of the adventurers of the Imperial Capital and the soldiers and adventurer of Altus City.
He reported the cause of the attack and how much this incident was out of the ordinary.
He reports the details about that incident that happened 5 months ago.
About the fact that the undead came from a dungeon located in the Marchial Kingdom.
About the fact that a mysterious portal appeared out of nowhere and transported the horde of undead.
The fact that the dungeon core of that particular dungeon was transported inside the city caused them to march toward it.
This information was presented in full detail by Svencity while reading the reports and testimonies of the adventurers involved in that incident.
Kodduc also reported more detail about this incident involving their country and the dungeon that was involved in this incident.
This information was provided by the A-rank Adventurer, Argent who was investigating the dungeon at that time.
"In my opinion, the monsters that appeared are not the problem. The real problem is the portals that transported those hordes of undead in Altus at that time are the real problem. It is very different from the Spacial Magic that the Scale Atelier uses. Those unknown portals do not resemble any other space-type magic or item we know so far. Those portals... It had no trace of magic at all. The nature and origin of those portals are still unknown. The fact that it managed to connect a dungeon located in the Marchial Kingdom to Altus is very alarming. I just feel that this incident is worthy of our attention." <Svencity>
After explaining these matters to the other Guildmasters, Svencity lets out a big sigh of relief.
He is not used to speaking and explaining things for a long time.
To Svencity, this task was more challenging than subjugating A-rank monsters.
It was obvious that this incident was no coincidence.
There's something that caused this incident to happen.
If this event was not a coincidence, there is a high possibility that it would happen again.
Fortunately, it occurred near the capital and a lot of adventurers are free to help in this incident.
If this happened in other places that are quite far from the capital, the unfortunate city would stand no chance of protecting itself.
By the time the adventurer guild managed to help, other cities might have turned into a city of the undead.
Luckily, at that time the hero and his party were passing by that area and with the help of the guild master of Altus and the Knight captain who is a part of the hero's party, the party managed to defeat the Undead king and his minion.
“Humu, as you said this incident is very suspicious. We must investigate this matter soon.” <Yrganth>
"The timing is just too perfect. Too perfect that it is almost suspicious. It is as if this incident was purposely instigated to "Welcome" the hero." <GM Claren>
The other guild masters agreed to this declaration by the guild master of Claren's domain.
“Uhhh… it’s just a feeling of mine, but I do feel that this incident might be connected to something big. No… I am certain that this incident is connected to something big.” <Svencity>
Although it was out of character, Svencity declared his honest thought about this matter.
After all, through the years of being an adventurer, he learned how to trust his sharp instinct.
The other guild master also felt the same.
“I see… if you say so. I respect your insights I will assign a competent adventurer to investigate this matter. Is there any objection?” <Yrganth>
None of the guild masters in the round table objected.
On contrary, they encourage the grandmaster to push on with his decision.
Svencity gave the grandmaster and the other guild masters a small nod for respecting his opinion and acting upon it.
“Hmnn, Guild master Svencity’s intuition on this kind of thing is quite accurate so we must take it seriously if he thinks that something is up.” <GM Claren>
Said the guild master in charge of the Claren Territory.
The grandmaster, Yrganth coughs once to signify the end of this topic.
After some moments of silence and Yrganth started talking about a new topic.
“Before ending this meeting, we'll have to do something about the matters in Riles. I will have to assign one of the members of the round table to oversee the situation in Riles up close. We can't just keep quiet about this matter, we have to instate our presence there to intimidate the people who are trying to instigate some unnecessary conflict.” <Yrganth>
All of the guild masters gave an unwilling attitude in this declaration of the grandmaster.
One by one they started to give “excuses” why they could not go and oversee the matters in Riles.
They said;
[I have something to attend to.];
[We have a situation in the dungeons in the area.];
[I need to oversee an upcoming event in the city so I can’t go.];
And other random reasons.
“How about we send Svencity there, if I remember it correctly, he only needs 1 more S-rank mission so he can rank up to SS-rank right? This is a perfect opportunity for him to increase his rank!” <GM Beaumount>
"Oh! come to think of it you are right! We must give this young one this opportunity to rank up." <GM Azurearosi>
“Oh! That’s right why not send him instead!” <GM Marchial>
“I agree” <GM Triana>
“Oh... I would love to ask Guildmaster Svencity to help us in this matter personally as well. ” <GM Riles>
All of a sudden the guild masters pushed the responsibility onto the young guild master.
Their word sounded suspicious, it was as if those words were rehearsed and this matter about choosing a Guild Master to attend the matters in riles was already determined from the start.
Both the Guild Masters of Azurearosi and the Beaumount are pushing for this because they wanted the Guild to have more power.
After all, they are managing the Domains of both Azurearosi and Beaumont dukedoms and hold unparalleled political power over the Artesia Empire.
They needed an adventurer to represent the guild in both authority and political power.
To do this they needed the guild master of Artesia Empire Capital to gain more power.
Svencity knew this was the reason they wanted him to increase his rank to SS.
Personally, Svencity did not want this responsibility to himself, thus he tried to refuse.
But... the Guild Master of Marchial pushes for this as this would benefit him and The Guilds in Marchial to have someone to rely on political matters involving the two countries.
This is the case with the other guild masters as well.
“EH???!!! Why me? I don’t want to go! You guys keep on doing this to me. You, old folks, keep on pushing me to this kind of mission.” <Svencity>
“... I would love to ask Guildmaster Svencity to help us in this matter personally as well. ” <GM Riles>
This time the Guild Master of Riles took the chance to ask for his help while politely bowing his head.
This only made it harder for Svencity to refuse.
“Oh come on Guild Master Sven, don’t be shy. If things go well, you will be awarded another S-rank quest achievement, and when you do you will be the first person in a hundred years to gain SS-rank status.” <GM Marchial>
“I don’t need that! I never intend to attain SS rank anyway. Argg! This always happens when a problematic thing happens in the world. You, old guys, push the responsibility to me. This is unfair! This is why I did not want to participate in this meeting in the first place! I’m out! If you guys wanted to see an SS-rank adventurer so much, why don't you chase after it yourself!” <Svencity>
"Hohoho~ how young, how young..." <Yrganth>
The Grandmaster leisurely said while being amused watching Svencity trying his best to refuse.
"Hahaha~ were too old for that kind of thing. Plus we are pushing you to do it because we know how qualified you are." <GM Pheono>
"Yeah, you're just too much of a talent. If we're just going to waste you solely on doing paper works it would be a waste of your talent and abilities. You should be working in the frontline." <GM Azurearosi>
Still, Svencity did not budge.
“Are you sure you don’t want it? If you manage to reach SS-rank status you will gain a more equal footing with that person.” <GM Beaumount>
"Guhu~" <Svencity>
With a meaningful gaze, the Guild Master of Beaumount exclaimed at Svencity.
It was a statement that holds a lot of underlying meaning.
Surprisingly, Svencity was taken aback this time around.
It seems that the meaning behind these words of the Guild master of Beaumount made him unable to refute them.
Noticing this the other Guildmasters attacked using this tactic.
Thus, they proceed to attack him using this topic.
“Oh… Yes… after all, that person is gaining too much influence in the Empire… I don't think being an S-rank Adventurer and being the Guild Master of the Imperial Capital is enough to match "Her".” <GM Azurearosi>
“Ughh…” <Svencity>
Svencity could not refuse.
After hearing "that person" he stopped trying to refuse, but it was clear that he was unwilling to do it.
Svencity, the guild master of Artesia Empire’s capital wanted no part of this matter at first but when one of the guild masters brought up a topic about a certain individual it became hard for Svencity to refuse.
After more persuasion from the other guild masters, he eventually ended up accepting the job.
The young guild master tried his best to refuse but ultimately it all came down to 1 argument.
[It is for “that” person.]
Those are the only word needed to persuade the young guild master of the Artesia Empire to accept the job.
“F*ck~ I get it, I get it! I just have to oversee things in Riles right?! Tsk… One day I will have you old folks pay for shoving all these troublesome jobs to me.” <Svencity>
The other older guild master gave him a teasing giggle instead.
Despite being unwilling, the Guild master of the Artesia Empire Capital was forced to accept the troublesome job involving the nobles and Ecclesia Empire in Riles.
With this, it was decided that the Guild Master of the Imperial Capital, Svencity would have to get involved with the matters happening in Riles.
---------------------------
Kazue POV
“Isamu, Kaori, Hayate, Carise-san… I have a request.” <Kazue>
“Request?” <Carise?>
Carise, together with my familiars gave me a curious look as I asked them to grant a request of mine.
“I ask that you won’t interfere in this fight, just jump in if I am in a pinch.” <Kazue>
“Huh? Do you want to fight that alone? Isn’t it safer if we all fight it at once?” <Carise?>
I scratched the side of my cheek as I was having trouble explaining why I wanted to fight it alone.
“Uh… this may sound weird but… I want to test myself against that monster…” <Kazue>
“Haaah???” <Carise?>
“Please?” <Kazue>
At first, Carise-san showed me an "ARE YOU CRAZY?" look.
Then soon after Carise gave me an “It can’t be helped” face while shaking her head.
“Hah… I get it… I’m just tagging along in your quest anyway. Do what you want.” <Carise?>
“hahaha… sorry.” <Kazue>
I said apologetically to Carise.
My familiars on the other hand had no problem with me fighting alone.
I stepped forward and intentionally let my presence out in the open so that the monster would notice me.
Soon enough the monster did pick up on my presence, it then made a terrifying growl.
“Oh my, you sure look intimidating…” <Kazue>
I said to the monster despite it not being able to understand my word.
We both charged toward each other.
As always I did not go all out right away.
I wanted to see how this monster fights.
Humanoid monsters such as this high orc could be tricky to deal with.
Unlike most monsters, they use a weapon and have more complex fighting skills compared to other monsters.
I compared this monster to its weaker counterpart, the orc.
I was confident.
Aside from their appearance and total stats, the two monsters must have a lot in common with how they fight.
Given they have significantly higher stats than a normal Orc, High orcs move faster and fiercer than orcs.
One must not be deceived by its size as it could move faster than one would expect.
As soon as I showed myself in front of this monster, it immediately attacked me with its large ax.
I started this fight by focusing on dodging my opponent so I can observe their attack patterns and skills.
I noticed.
The destructive power of their blows is on par with the Undead Knight, no perhaps this monster has even more compared to that.
Although the monster is indeed fast, it is not fast enough for me to be alarmed as I am still significantly faster than this monster.
I dodged the constant attack of the monster as it swings its large ax around.
In the past, I would not even dare to parry such swings with my sword as I knew that my STR is not high enough to parry it effectively.
But as I am right now, it's different.
With the stat increase from the equipment and to a lesser degree from the stat increase by leveling up, I could now parry and deflect these attacks to some degree.
It was to a point where I can divert the direction of the swings or redirect some of this monster's attacks.
[Hmnn, I guess all of the experience, level-ups, Skills, and equipment I gained all this time made me a lot stronger than I was 4 months ago.]
I felt happy with the fact that I could see how much my abilities increased.
If I fought this monster 5 months ago, I would have had a hard time dealing with it...
[Yep, Progress is a good thing.]
-BOOM-
The monster's ax crashed toward the ground.
“phew~” <Kazue>
“GHARRR!!!” <High Orc>
The high orc was getting frustrated with all his attack being parried, redirected, or dodged while not being able to do any damage to me.
The monster screamed.
“Whoa- whoa- it’s pissed.” <Kazue>
I muttered, even without asking, one can tell that the monster is pissed.
It slammed its ax toward the ground.
Spikes appeared forming a line in my direction.
“Oh wow!” <Kazue>
I was amazed at how flashy the attack was and I could not help but jump back and avoid the spikes that appeared in the ground.
[Uwah… that looked like a very fancy-looking attack…]
I thought as I watch the spike miss its mark.
“Ah… I have an idea…” <Kazue>
With a grin, I thought of a fun thing to do.
“It’s a bit stupid but well I just want to see how it goes.” <Kazue>
I muttered to myself in excitement.
[Now… I have to wait for that attack once again…]
I continued to fight the High Orc.
I kept my distance and circled the High Orc.
I would close the distance to annoy the monster from time to time as I have something in mind.
[I need to make the monster use that flashy move again.]
To do that I maintained a distance where it is not close enough for the monster to reach me with his weapon but not far enough for it to stop chasing me around either.
I did this to bait the monster to use the same attack it used a while ago again.
I maintained this distance where the only attack that this monster could do to reach me is to use "that" particular attack from earlier.
Soon enough the monster raised his ax in the air and prepared to smash it into the ground.
This movement indicates that the monster was about to use that move again.
Like a cat, my eyes opened wide.
I was waiting for the monster to perform this attack.
As soon as I saw that monster release this attack
I made my move in unison with a big smile on my face.
I poured mana into my Katana and as a result, it glowed slightly.
“GRAHHH!!!” <High Orc>
The High Orc slammed its ax toward the ground and once again spikes emerged in the ground slithering toward me in a relatively straight line.
At the same time...
A flash of light crashed with those spikes and a large explosion occurred.
“Whoa!!!” <Kazue>
I was amused by what just occurred.
“That was cool!” <Kazue>
My eyes sparkled like a child after witnessing what I just did.
Just now I used the skill (Sword Skill: Sword Wave I).
The skill that I learned from Lavi Onee-chan way back in Luron.
It was the attack that the Undead Knight used to attack me from a distance.
(Sword Skill: Sword Wave I), is a sword-based skill that creates a crescent-shaped projectile attack made from a compressed lump of Mana.
Its destructive capability is quite remarkable.
Well with my mana it uses up 10% of my mana reserves to unleash one.
You might be asking what’s the point of doing this attack just now.
To be honest I was just doing it for fun.
I just wanted to have fun.
It's been a while since I've fought against a strong monster.
Also, I wanted to gain back my confidence.
I’ve been experiencing my ass kicked by miss Alicia for the past 3 weeks during our travel to Vestir.
We’ve been sparring almost every day and she would kick my ass all the time.
It was not just me, even my former classmates, the Otaku boys had their asses kicked in the same way.
Even with their help and my familiars' help, we could not deal even a scratch on her.
Honestly, my confidence is low right now, doing such pointless action boosts my confidence a little bit.
At the same time, I imagined that it would look cool to see this skill clash with that flashy attack that the high orc did.
Both of our attacks clashed and the result did not disappoint me, the end product of the skill (Sword Skill: Sword Wave I) and the monster's flashy attack created a large explosion.
The wind blew from the result of the explosion and passed by my face.
I was internally moved and for some reason, it awakened my “Chuuni-fantasies” which I thought I'd grown off all these years.
I did watch my share of action anime with my brother before.
And I admire how nice it looked when two flashy attacks from two opposing characters would clash and create an eye-catching explosion.
I aimed to re-enact this clash of power between two opposing powerful attacks.
This time around it’s me and this monster.
[Damn~ I wish I could show this to Chiho and Rio. That just now was cool hahaha~]
Fulfilled, I decided to end this fight as I have already done what I wanted to do.
“Well… I had my fun but I guess I have to finish this for now…” <Kazue>
The monster was shocked because of the explosion that the clash created.
Dust blocked the High Orc's view while being confused as to what just happened.
Using this moment, I decided to attack.
-Inhale-
(Concentration), (Aura Blade), (Swift), (Accelerate), (Speed Boost).
I activated several skills at once.
I purposely activated all of my speed-related skills to catch this monster off guard with 1 quick move.
(Burst)
Using the skill burst I moved straight forward in a blink of an eye I managed to reduce the distance from about 10 meters to 0.
I jumped into the air so that I could reach my targets head.
(Critical), (Katana Skill: Decapitation Slash)
With these two skills, I swung my sword aiming for the neck of the monster.
My sword reaches the neck of the monster.
But contrary to what I expected the monster’s skin was tougher than I expected.
My sword did not completely cut through the monster’s neck but instead, it stopped halfway.
My attack was not powerful enough to detach the monster's head from its body.
It caused my eyes to open wide in surprise.
[Uwah... I expected this monster to be sturdy but this is beyond what I expected.]
Luckily that attack of mine was fatal enough to damage the monster.
As I was about to pull my sword out of the monster and leap back from the monster.
The monster grabbed my foot and threw me away.
I was tossed to the ground flying for about 10 meters before touching the ground.
I quickly gained my footing after rolling once on the ground.
Looking at the injury I gave the monster, I was certain that even if I just leave the monster be, the monster would eventually die from bleeding.
The monster fell to its knees and started squirming in pain.
The monster dropped its weapon to try and cover the fatal wound on its neck.
Blood oozed from its mouth and snout.
It was a painful sight to look at even though it was a monster.
I crumpled my face as I felt bad looking at the monster squirming in pain.
It felt odd but I felt bad for the monster as I wanted to not suffer such pain before it died.
I walked toward the monster with my katana.
“Sorry, but you were tougher than what I expected you to be.” <Kazue>
I apologized and made my move again.
To show my mercy, I wanted the monster to not suffer any more than this.
Instantaneously I activated (Aura Blade) and (Critical) to increase the damage of my next attack.
(Sword Skill: Power Slash)
A downward slashing aimed at the monster’s head.
This time, I put all my weight together with the slash.
My sword dug into the head of the monster, this helped the monster to lose all its HP quicker.
Blood sprayed and of course, some of it sprayed on me.
-Exhale-
“I hope with this, you’ll die quickly…” <Kazue>
I pulled my sword out of its head.
The light on the monster's eyes faded.
I shook off the blood on my sword by swinging it down.
I stepped away from the bloody mess I made.
I walked toward my familiars and missed Carise.
Carise was looking at me with a look of amazement.
“You defeated a C-rank monster by yourself, and you did it with ease too.” <Carise?>
She said with her eyes wide open.
“Well… I’ve been training with a more powerful foe than that so it’s not big of a deal.” <Kazue>
[Like Lavi one-chan and Lady Alicia…]
I closed my eyes and remember those two powerful ladies.
“Don’t say it like that, you were amazing!” <Carise?>
“...” <Kazue>
Carise nods and showed me a genuine smile.
“Thanks…” <Kazue>
I looked down and noticed.
“Uwah…” <Kazue>
I groan when I notice that my clothes are covered in the monster’s blood.
“Hmnn? You made a mess there did you.” <Carise?>
Carise said, noticing the blood all over me as well.
“uwah… It’s a bother to clean later. I did not expect that monster to be that tough.” <Kazue>
I said displeasingly.
“Oh if it’s ok with you I can clean off the dirt in your body with my magic (Clean).” <Carise?>
“Oh! You can?! Please do so!” <Kazue>
“Alright.” <Carise?>
Carise extended her arm toward me and cast magic.
Light enveloped me and the blood smeared all over me dissipated into glowing dust of light.
[I wonder if I can find a skill scroll with that ability.]
I, Carise, and my familiars continued to look for the same monster in the field.
There are a lot of Orc around and several enemies around the area but none of them are as Strong as the High Orc with is a C-rank monster.
In this area, most of the monster that could be found is around D or E-rank.
With this, we leisurely went around and stayed in the field for 2 more days.
Author Note:
I would probably update this story again tomorrow since it's my day off from work!
I would dedicate my time to editing the finished chapter I manage to do these past months!
I was about to draw an illustration for this chapter but I could not think of a good scene to draw so I just decided to do it next chapter.
Well, I also want to relax tonight and watch some anime that I was unable to watch this past month!