3 bar menu

The Otherworld Conquest Method of a Reincarnated Porter Chapter 133 Part 2

「Huh, ugh.」

Laura, who is surprised by my intimidation skill and is a moment late to take action, hurriedly jumps backwards and readies her sword again. Are you an idiot? It’s over already.

「The match is over. It’s Sei’s victory.」

「N, no way. That’s not it, just now was…」

「Laura, if Sei was serious, he would have slashed your throat. Besides, you didn’t even channel magical energy into your sword, did you? If Sei was serious, he might have destroyed your sword, you know?」

「That’s, umm… One more time, I won’t let my guard down this time.」

「Nope, I’ve finished my business with you. Next is Ottilie.」

「Kuh, fine. Please, as you can see. Have a sword match with me just one more time.」

Laura begs with a face as if she has just bitten a bitter-tasting bug. She is bowing her head to the porter she has been making fun of, so it must be very humiliating. Laura is probably from a noble family, so even simply bowing her head to a commoner would probably have hurt her pride. If she would go that far, then I guess I don’t mind accepting it.

「Sei, I ask of you as well. Laura has certainly let guard down because you’re a porter. This incident served as a good lesson for Laura, and also for me. Could you have just one more match with Laura?」

This is nice. That means Laura and Ottilie will owe me a favor. For me, there’s no downside to this deal.

「Fine, but you owe me one.」

「Yeah, Laura, is that okay with you?」

「Kuh, fine.」

Going back to square one, I face Laura again. Laura is holding her sword at the ready with a serious look on her face, not letting her guard down at all. Even after Ottilie gives out the start cue, we continue glaring at each other. Circulating our magical energy, we’re both getting ready to use instant step, instant movement, and body enhancement. I think my intimidation skill, in which my proficiency level is 1, won’t work anymore. It’ll just be a waste of magical energy. Let’s see how far I can go without using petty tricks. Here she comes, Laura steps firmly on the ground.

After blocking Laura’s sword as she closes in with instant step and unleashes a downward strike towards me, we get into a fierce exchange of blows. Since we can’t hurt each other, we don’t use that much strength, but even then, I have my hands full with just defending. I continue to block Laura’s sword strikes while holding my breath. This feeling, I think our swordsmanship skills are about equal. But Laura is superior in terms of strength and speed. If I use my full-strength body enhancement, I will be able to fight Laura more than just on an equal footing, but unfortunately, the magical energy consumption is severe. However, if our techniques are evenly matched, perhaps none of us will be able to secure victory. In that case, I have no choice but to go for it in one go.

「Whuoooo!」

「Ugh, kuh.」

I fight Laura while using full-strength body enhancement. Looks like it’s working. Even so, Laura, perhaps out of pride as a regular member of Cotton Clouds, is desperately blocking my sword strikes.

「Oraaaaaaaa.」

As she lets out a roar that makes me wonder if she’s really a woman from a noble family, we exchange blows with our swords. Kuh, not good, I can’t secure victory.

「Huh, wha?!」

At that moment, Laura’s sword strikes suddenly become sharper. This feeling, not good, it seems that Laura’s proficiency level in swordsmanship skill has gone up at the last moment. This is bad, I’m starting to be completely pushed back. Kuh, what should I do? At this rate, it’ll gradually get worse and worse for me. Damn it, even so, I can’t afford to lose. I don’t care what will become of my remaining magical energy. I’ll keep using body enhancement until I collapse.

I fight Laura while mustering all my remaining magical energy and strength, but even so, I start to be pushed back. Kuh, is this still not good enough? Damn it, I don’t want to lose. I push through my limits and swing my sword single-mindedly.

「Wha, t?!」

What’s with Laura’s shocked expression? Suddenly, I’m starting to be able to block Laura’s sword strikes well. I see, it seems my proficiency level in swordsmanship has gone up as well. But I’m at my limit already. My stamina and magical energy are both about to reach their limits. Kuh, not good, I’m going to collapse.

「That’s it.」

Ottilie swings her sword down between me and Laura, interrupting the fight. Thank goodness, if we had continued as we were, I might have lost consciousness. I wonder if Ottilie noticed that I was about to reach my limit and decided to put a stop to the fight, if so, I owe her one. No, subtracting it with the favor she owed me earlier, we’re even, I’d say. Kuh, not good, I have my hands full with just catching my breath. I can no longer move my body. Ottilie says something to me, but I just breathe heavily, and am unable to hear what she’s saying. When I calm down a little, the guy named Nakulus approaches me.

「Hey, that was a good match. Let me lend you my shoulder. I’m Nakulus. You can call me Nakule. I recently changed jobs to magic pugilist…」

I head to the inn while borrowing Nakulus’s shoulder. He’s a pretty friendly guy. There’s a guy like this, too, huh. After returning to the inn and resting for a while, the effect of the automatic recovery kicks in, and my conditions improve to a certain extent. Perhaps its backlash, I’m extremely hungry, so I eat a hearty dinner. My proficiency level in automatic recovery has gone up by one. Haa, even so, I’m really exhausted. It’s December now, so it’s crazy cold, and on a day like this, I’d like to take a hot bath to relieve my fatigue.

◇ ◇ ◇

Having used up his stamina and magical energy to their very limits, Sei left while borrowing Nakulus’ shoulder. Although not to the same extent as Sei, Laura also appeared to be exhausted.

「That served as a good experience, didn’t it, Laura? To think a porter could go that far. Perhaps he has an innate skill, or has equipped a special magic tool. Maybe both. Still, for him to be that trained, he must be fairly high-leveled and has a lot of experience. Even though he’s still so young, quite the impressive guy he is.」

「Huff, huff, damn, I couldn’t win…」

「Well, if you had continued as you were, you would have won, Laura. Besides, you can still get stronger. And for that reason…」

「Huff, huff, for that reason, what? Huff, huff.」

「You need to use Sei well.」

「Why that bastard, huff, huff.」

「Laura, you always train with me with the assumption that you’ll lose, no? And that’s been hindering your growth. I could sense your determination in your fight with Sei that you absolutely couldn’t afford to lose. Thanks to that, your proficiency in swordsmanship skill went up at the last minute. In other words, Sei is a good match for you, and it will help you, no, both of you, improve yourselves.」

Laura looked back on the fight earlier. Certainly, when she had sword practice with someone who was superior to her, she never fought to such an extent and pushed herself past her limits. Even though her body was screaming, her pride as a member of Cotton Clouds, and her determination to never lose in front of Ottilie, someone whom she respected, had without a doubt spurred her growth. She had made fun of him by calling him porter, but Sei was undoubtedly strong, and he might be the perfect training partner for her.

「Besides, Sei’s storage capacity is 64 barrels. It may go up to 128 someday. No, he’s still young, so that probability is high. Laura, I want Sei. I want to take Sei into the Cotton Clouds, by all means. You’ll cooperate with me, right?」

「By cooperation, what is it that you want me to do? I don’t think he belongs anywhere, though.」

「Worry not, it’s something that will do you no harm. You only need to keep training with Sei and entice him while seeing his reaction, Laura.」

「By enticing…」

「It means using your womanly weapons.」

「Huh?! There’s no way I can do such a thing, is there?」

「Worry not, not only are you good looking as you keep your mouth shut, you have an outstanding figure, after all. If you just show a little bit of opening, I think it will work out surprisingly well.」

「W, wait, for better or worse, I’m also married and have a child, so…」

「If you already have a child, that means you’ve fulfilled your duties as a noble. After that, it doesn’t matter even if you hook up with a man or two outside. Even I have a few men like that, after all.」

「W, what!?」

Despite Laura’s reluctance, Ottilie’s Sei’s enticement plan was being brewed.

◇ ◇ ◇