Chapter 91.1: Clown
◆Sword’s Maiden; Shirone
As night fell, a bonfire was built in the plaza right in front of the Velos Kingdom’s Royal Castle to illuminate the surroundings.
There were many people gathered in the plaza. Majority of them were battle-hardened warriors.
The warriors were gathering around us who stood at the center of the plaza.
I looked at the girl before me.
She was a beautiful and lovely girl whose red-hair was bundled in a ponytail.
Her name was Charis.
It was obvious that she was the believer of the Battle Goddess, Amazona, from her bikini armor.
She shouldered her battle axe on her shoulder as she flashed a daring smile.
In short, I’d accepted her challenge to spar with her.
I wanted to reject her request at first but I quickly realized that there was no way to reject her.
「DO YOUR BEST, YOUNG MI――――――――SS!!!」
「I’M CHEERING FOR YOU!!! MISS CHARI――――IS!!」
「MISS CHARI―――――IS!!」
The half-naked and rugged warriors were cheering for Charis.
They might be the brown bear Arcas’ subordinates.
A glance at them was enough to convince me that they were the God of Battle and Strength Thors’ Warriors.
The warriors’ cheering rose on a whole another level when Charis waved her hand toward them.
It seems she was quite popular amongst the warriors.
Well, Charis was a really adorable girl after all.
Moreover, the men were clearly delighted by the fact that she wore bikini armor. In fact, some of the men who were cheering for her were looking at her with lustful eyes.
But, maybe because the person herself didn’t realize that, she just smiling back at them innocently.
「Do your be~st, Shirone-sa~n.」
「Gogogo, Shirone-san.」
「Do your be~st, Shirone-sa~n.」
「Go, Shirone.」
I heard the voice of my comrades cheering on me.
I replied to my comrades by waving my hand to them.
It seems that only my comrades were truly cheering for me now.
Some others seemed to be cheering for me too, but it was more so that they wouldn’t lost their bet.
I’ve been hearing the warriors talking about who they’re betting for.
The warrior who was betting on me was cheering for me to win this spar.
The fact that they were cheering me on because of their bet was really pissing me off.
「Ehehehe, thank you for accepting my request to spar with me. This is the first time I met a female warrior around my age.」
Charis was talking cheerfully before the start of our sparring match.
There were only a small number of female warriors in this world.
I looked at the warriors who were cheering on Charis.
Yup, it was only muscular men as far as I could see. Maybe she was actually lacking a female friend her age.
Poor girl.
「Ready!! Here I, GO―――!!!」
Charis readied her battle axe and then rushed at me.
Fast.
She was already circling around my back by the time I noticed.
I felt Charis unleash a strike with the blunt side of her axe.
The audience raised a cheer with 「OOOOOOOOOH!」 upon seeing that.
But, I wouldn’t go down that easily either.
I shifted my centre of gravity a little bit.
「Eh?」
Charis, who swung her axe, looked really surprised by my action.
That was only natural since a strike that she thought going to score a hit ended up missing right at the last moment.
「HOW ABOUT THIS!!」
Charis’ attack didn’t end with that first strike. She used her momentum to keep moving around me as she brandished her axe with ease.
But, I dodged all of her attacks.
Seeing that none of her attacks landed a hit, Charis retreated at once.
「Amazing, none of my attacks can score a hit on you.」
Charis spoke happily.
Despite being at a loss, she seemed to be fully enjoying the match.
「No need to hold back. I’ll dodge all of your attacks.」
I readied my stance as I drew my sword. Honestly speaking, I could win this match even without using my sword. But, I wanted to show some respect to the girl before me.
「Really? Then I’m going all out from now on.」
The moment Charis finished speaking, the tattoo on her body started to throb as if it was alive.
It was the beast’s inspiration.
Amazona’s warriors could use beast’s inspiration just like Thors’ warrior.
Charis managed to earn the beast’s inspiration despite her young age.
Charis’ eyes changed into that of a feline’s.
Her beast’s inspiration might be related to leopards.
Though they were less powerful than a wolf or bear, they were agile and flexible.
The user of beast’s inspiration always faced the risk of turning into a berker with prolonged use of their power. But, I’m gonna end this match before that happens.
「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!」
Her movement became three times faster after activating beast’s inspiration.
Charis moved freely around the plaza.
The spectators couldn’t hide their surprise when they saw that.
I mean, normal humans of this world wouldn’t even be able to see her silhouette since she was moving way too fast.
But, it wasn’t fast enough in my eyes.
Charis’ axe approached fast.
I shifted my body to the side a little bit and drew my sword to match her movement.
Thus, our weapons clashed against each other.
Charis’ axe was thrown out of her grip as the sound of the clashing of our weapons resounded throughout the plaza.
The next moment, I felt Charis’ presence weaken a lot.
The audiences raised loud cries upon seeing that.
Thus, the match ended with my victory.
◆Member of Brown Bear’s Mercenary; Remus
The two of us were currently in one room of the inn that was being used by our brown bear mercenary group. There was a bed placed in this spacious room.
His Majesty seems to have this room prepared for Charis.
Charis was really delighted when she received this room from His Majesty.
She said delightfully that it felt like she had became a princess in a fairy-tale which I’d read to her before.
That was only natural since we normally lived in the outer city.
That meant that we never slept in proper place. Thus, it was no exagerration to say that this kind of treatment felt like one for a princess.
I sat on the bed where Charis was lying down.
「Feeling better now, Charis?」
I checked on her who was asleep till just a moment ago.
Charis had gotten knocked out by the sword’s maiden.
Even the powerful Charis was no match for the sword’s maiden.
Charis was strong.
I mean, she’d never lost, even to adult male warriors.
The only one stronger than Charis in our mercenary group was her father, our leader.
Though we’re the same age, Charis was already being treated as a top-class warrior.
Well in this case, I was simply too weak compared to her.
「Don’t worry, I’m okay!! You’re always such a worrywart, Remus~」
Charis waved her hand at me, telling me to not worry about her.
In fact, I tried to check her body but there was no external wound.
Maybe the sword’s maiden was going easy on her.
「It’ll be fine then, but…」
But still, I couldn’t help but worry about her.
「Fu, hu~mph.」
Charis seemed to be enjoying my current situation.
「W-What’s the matter, Charis? Is there something on my face?」
「Nothi~ng. But still, she is so strong, huh. I never expected that I would meet a girl around my age who is more powerful than me. It just as you said, Remus, this world is big.」 [Note: Seriously? A world where nothing is bigger than Japan?]
Though she lost the match, she didn’t seem to worry about it.
Instead, she looked really happy to be able to meet a girl whose strength surpassed her.
I mean, I also never expected that there’s actually a girl who was more powerful than Charis.
For as long as I could remember, Charis had always been powerful.
I recalled the time when I met Charis for the first time.
It happened around three years ago.
I, who’d escaped from a country that had been destroyed by monsters, got picked up by Charis.
In short, Charis was my benefactor.
Since then, I’d worked as one of the members of the brown bear mercenary team.
「Yeah. The world is big.」
I was smiling happily as I agreed with Charis.
「Come to think of it, what’s everyone doing right now?」
Charis asked while looking around.
「Ah, they already went out for a drinking party. I mean, our meals are prepared by the king during our stay in this kingdom after all.」
「I see. Why didn’t you go with them, Remus?」
「I’m house-sitting. Well, can’t be helped, I’m just underling after all.」
The weak me was at the bottom of the barrel in our mercenary team.
I’m mainly doing odd jobs in our mercenary team.
The strong get a proper position on the mercenary team. On the other hand, the weak could only doing odd jobs.
「Remus is an underling eh… even though you can read, are smart, and really helpful to our mercenary team… it seems that lot have yet to understand it. Guess I have to talk properly to father after this so that he can remind those brutes.」
Charis spoke while looking straight into my eyes.
I was the only one who could read in our mercenary team.