Chapter 220: The dormant weapon, part 8
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Translator: Denryuu; Editor: Ryunakama
◆Roland◆
I ran down a previously unexplored corridor to reach the room where the Demon King used to meet her subjects.
「You’re Roland?」
The man in front of me seemed to be in his late thirties. He was the most average-looking middle-aged man I could think of, save for the sword hanging by his waist. The throne on which he sat was quite a misfit for him.
Next to him lay Lyla, covered in blood.
「Lyla!」, I yelled.
「Worry not. Preservation magic was used on her — the same kind you used to preserve that right arm of yours. She’ll be fine for some time.」
It was probably the fake Lyla, the one fighting the two ladies right now, that had cast the spell on her. I wondered if the real Lyla had just narrowly escaped death, for the blood on her wounds had already dried. The sooner she receives medical attention, the better, I thought.
「I am Van Galliard. I was born and raised in this kingdom, but was forced to flee to the Heavenly Kingdom of Reubens where I joined a smithery guild. I run this kingdom now.」
「Being king of the hill must be nice」, I said. 「Are you happy with your collection of reanimated dolls?」
「I’m doing no harm to anyone. In fact, I’m here to rebuild this kingdom from its ashes. I have already swept this area clean of monsters and brigands.」
「And I’m not here to stop you. If this is what you wish for, then so be it. The parts surrounding Jorvenssen are marked as extremely dangerous, but with your help, I guess this classification no longer applies. I suppose you have our thanks.」
Van had seemed a little nervous, but relaxed upon receiving my praise.
「I knew it. We should be business partners, Roland.」
「Why is that so?」
「Well, we can build this new kingdom together! Diakitep, too!」
What gives?
How childish, I thought. Someone his age, dreaming of establishing a kingdom of his own? Has he always aspired to do this, or does he simply want to flex his abilities? Given the way he behaved, I settled on the latter.
「I’m a guild employee」, I replied, shaking my head slowly. 「I have no interest in nation-building, nor do I wish to dabble in politics.」
「I see. The original doesn’t listen to me, does he now?」
「A lengthy conversation with you is not what I came for. I’m here for that girl, and I’ll be taking her with me, if you don’t mind.」
「She came here of her own accord. It’s not like I forced her.」
「I can ask her about the finer details later. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t care that you ‘Resurrected’ a bunch of dead people or tried to lead Elvi astray. The only thing I care about is that you hurt Lyla.」
About Elvi, I thought, I can just let bygones be bygones. She sees the world in black and white, and it was exactly that nature that had made her susceptible to temptation.
「Diakitep wishes to see this kingdom restored to its former glory. Your interference will only complicate things.」
「Do not speak on her behalf.」
It was a very shallow reason to keep her alive — there had to be something else. What was it that she could do that the fake Lyla couldn’t?
「Anyway, I need to keep her by my side.」
He stood up.
「What makes you want her so much?」
「Her ability speaks for itself. It’s the same reason why you came all the way here.」
「You’re not wrong, but her strength certainly isn’t the only reason.」
Come to think of it, the news of King Reubens’s assassination had only come quite some time after the disappearance of my right arm. If he had needed me that much, he could have created more copies using the doppelganger’s body parts. He definitely had the time too.
Yet, as far as I knew, there had only been one, and only one, doppelganger.
「…」
This Van could do two things, the first of which was ‘Resurrection’ — the revival of people and magical weapons that had died long ago. The other was ‘Replication’, the ability to create phonies like those of Lyla and myself.
It was thus only logical that he needed something from the original to initiate ‘Replication’, such as my right arm. In more specific terms, he could create a replica from a biological specimen of the original.
That was likely why he needed to maintain custody of the real Lyla.
The ‘Replicated’ was possibly also more robust and powerful than the ‘Resurrected’. Van didn’t seem very confident in his own fighting abilities, so he needed Lyla just in case the phoney disappeared for one reason or another. It was reasonable to assume that he wanted a failsafe.
But there isn’t really a need to prove all this conjecture, I thought. The intrinsic need I feel to prove it is simply an occupational reflex — just like how I, as an examiner, immediately analyses the applications and limits of an examinee’s skill.
「I’ll take Lyla now」, I said. 「I think she’s had enough of this make-believe nonsense.」
「I don’t think she needs your permission to stay here, does she?」
「But I want Lyla to be by my side. My ego compels me to do this.」
I had killed ‘myself’ the day I became an assassin. It was only now that I could hear my inner voice again.
What seemed like a dozen ‘Gun-Dogs’ burst through the door followed by one ‘Boulder Soldier’ after another. Van and his cronies, while carrying Lyla, tried making a quick getaway.
I sighed.
「Do you really think you can buy time like this?」
Their trio of crimson eyeballs swivelling in their sockets, the ‘Gun-Dogs’ scanned the room. I activated ‘Faint Shadow’, approached the automatons from their blind spots and quickly incapacitated two of them with a ‘Magic Regus’ to their underbellies.
「Wait, the ‘Gun-Dog’ just –!?」
「Two of them died in the blink of an eye…!?」
「I knew he was strong, but this… this is ridiculous!」
The ‘Gun-Dogs’ were panicking just as much as Van’s cronies. They fired their cannons in random directions, some landing direct hits on their ‘Boulder Soldier’ counterparts. The latter took the former for enemies and began attacking them instead.
This chaos, the result of induced disorder, was a common sight.
All I needed to do was stand and watch.
「Oi, what are all of you doing!?」, yelled Van.
The people carrying Lyla were rooted to the ground in shock. Suddenly, they began melting into puddles one by one.
「Eh –?」
I darted over to the dumbfounded Van.
「Get it?」, I whispered into his ear. 「Wolves led by sheep are weaker than sheep led by wolves.」
Beads of sweat formed on his skin.
「W-Wait a minute!」
He swung around and swatted at me with the back of his hand — an ‘attack’ typical of those who were essentially unacquainted with combat. I caught it, adopting a disappointed expression.
「Enough.」
Gnashing his teeth, Van stared at me with pure hatred.
「My skill, ‘Arsenal’, can bring great prosperity to the lives of many! It’s nothing like your presence-quenching antics!」
「I think it’s a great ability too. Unlike mine.」
I paused.
「But the right to make such a speech is reserved for those who have brought great prosperity to the lives of others. You, unfortunately, are unable to please so much as a single woman. Though I may have no right to comment on others, I, too, am trying my best.」
「Shut up, shut up!」
Van’s body began to glow, enveloping itself in a thick carapace identical to that covering the ‘Gun-Dogs’ and ‘Boulder Soldiers’. Three red pupils, as expected, appeared in the eye-hole. I wondered if this was the as-yet-unusable magical weapon that Rodje had mentioned.
Van drew his sword and tossed the scabbard aside, revealing the same sword that Elvi had received. In his other hand was the ‘Gun’.
「This magical weapon is known as ‘Gear’.」
「Come at me」, I taunted.
He appeared in front of me in a flash, ‘Gun’ blazing. It roared each time it fired a bullet. I bent over to dodge the bullets and found the blade of the demon sword waiting for me. Fortunately, I managed to dodge it by the width of a whisker.
Van’s sword started drawing in magicka from the surroundings and released it in the form of a beam.
「Tch.」
I sidestepped it, and he immediately swung at me again.
His movements are quite rehearsed, I thought. Firing the ‘Gun’, unleashing a magical beam with his demon sword and then swiping at me to finish the job. He should have had little to no combat experience, yet his movements were nimble and his reflexes were sharp.
Is this the power of ‘Gear’?
「It heightens my senses and my reaction speed tremendously! It also remembers the reflexes of its previous wearer and imparts them to me!」
「I see. What a convenient thingamajig.」
「Diakitep was no match for the ‘Gun’, you know?」
He was truly a child playing with shiny new toys — what’s in it for him to willingly show me all his cards? While I constituted a fraction of the demon sword’s power source, most of its magicka was being siphoned away from Lyla. Any more, and it would physically damage her.
I had no time to spare.
I tried a feint and darted behind him, but he reacted faster than I expected.
「Don’t think you can get behind me that easily!」
I activated ‘Faint Shadow’ and fired my magical fist accompanied by a burst of magicka. It hit him squarely on the face.
「W-What was that –!?」
You don’t know, do you? Well, I can’t fault you, I thought. Not even my doppelganger, who knew my skill inside out, had known what it was.
「Remember — under all that extravagant armor and weaponry still lies a human.」
Stealing the ‘Gun’ out of the panicking Van’s hand was like stealing candy from a child. To err is human, and so is having a blind spot. It was the same principle that had allowed me to steal the branch chief’s panties.
I noticed a strange inscription on the ‘Gun’ bullets. These were probably the bullets that had caught Lyla off guard.
「Can your beloved ‘Gear’ block this?」
「Huh!? No, stop –」
A bullet flew out of the ‘Gun’ with its characteristic roar. Cracks appeared all over the ‘Gear’.
「No… way…」
Clutching the area where the bullet had struck him, Van fell to his knees. There were a few bullets left in the ‘Gun’, and I emptied all of them into the wretched necromancer.
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