Toriden V5 - Master of Spear
Oct. 27th, 2024 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
idolaVolume 5: Charming Overheat
Master of Spear
Previous | Next
---
“Hehehe. You’re awful pretty, aren’t ya, missy? Whaddya think of hangin’ out with us for a while?”
“S-stop!”
“C’mon. You can’t go wrong with guys like us.”
“I-I’m engaged, so…”
“You’re so cold. But that doesn’t matter, y’know? But listen. We’re the Gametsu brothers. We run this neighborhood. Wanna see us beat your fiance ‘til he can’t stand?”
“I, I…”
“Then it’s settled. C’mere! Heheh, we can make you feel real good.”
Ryner Lute was zoning out watching the cliche scenario unfolding before him.
It was afternoon in a teahouse on the outskirts of town. He’d ordered tea and nothing else, but even so, he spent the morning napping, napping, and napping again without anything troublesome happening at all.
His dark hair was tousled from sleep, and his tall back was slouched over the table. His dull eyes stared at the forceful come-on right outside the teahouse.
The three men were wearing sleeveless shirts to show off their pointlessly buff arm muscles, and they soon pulled out fairly sizable knives to try to force her to comply.
The girl began to cry. “S-someone, save me! Please!” she screamed.
The gawking onlookers and passersby all looked away.
The Gametsu brothers laughed. “Heheh. D’ya really think anyone’s gonna come help you? They’re not. So now that you understand that you’re fighting a losing battle, let’s go!”
Her tears fell fast down her face…
Ryner turned his sleepy eyes up towards the sunny afternoon sky. “Maaan… the sun feels so good on a peaceful day like this…”
The little mustached owner of the teahouse yelled out. “Are you some kind of demon!? Where the hell’s that peaceful day? Help her!”
“Huuuh? Why me? I don’t wanna. It’s too much of a pain. You should go help her.”
“What are you saying? That’s impossible for me,” the owner said. “I have two daughters, and my wife is pregnant with our third child.”
“So?”
“So it’s too dangerous for me! I have to be there for my family! Besides, there’s no way I could win.”
Ryner nodded. “True. Those hoodlums look pretty strong. They look fast, too, judging by their muscles…”
“But they’re not people who you can’t beat, right!? You’re a celebrity by now. Everyone is saying that you and that friend of yours are powerful. If you won’t do it, then I’ll need you to leave. You only ordered one cup of tea and you’ve been here for hours!”
“Huh? Am I being a pest?”
“Oh, so now you realize it!?” the owner yelled without meaning to. Then he shook his head to clear his thoughts. “But who cares about that. Please just save her!”
“I’m saying it’s too much of a pain. I don’t wanna.”
“What kind of a garbage answer is that!? Look, they’re already carrying her away!”
Ryner looked over to them. “Oh, yeah. She looks so pitiful right now. Those guys are just the worst.”
The owner stared at Ryner with the deepest contempt. “Demon… you’re a demon…”
Ryner just shrugged. “You can call me a demon all you want, but like… oh, look over there. She’s gonna get saved even without me saving her. A real ally of justice has arrived.”
“Huh?” The owner looked back at the men.
Ryner followed his eyes once more. A man stood there, blocking the way for the Gametsu brothers and the girl.
“Stop it, guys,” the man said. He had a clear tone and pleasant voice. “Women will hate you if you act like this.” His back was tensed upright. He had the same dark hair as Ryner, but unlike his, it was neatly combed. His strong gaze was sincere.
He was probably… about Ryner’s age? He was easy on the eyes and presented himself like a true gentleman. He was wearing a dark suit-like outfit with hard-looking armor. He carried a massive lance fastened to his back.
The Gametsu brothers lost their cool for a moment at his appearance. “Wh-who the hell are you?”
“You pretending to be some kind of ally of justice?”
“You know that meddling’s gonna hurt, right? It doesn’t matter how big your lance is. You can’t beat us with it.”
The brothers gripped their knives.
The gentleman smiled softly. “Let’s see who really comes out of this hurting.”
The Gametsu brothers all raised their knives. “Why you little…!”
That was the moment that the brothers ran forward to attack. But their attacks didn’t connect. The gentleman seemed to grow hazy from how quickly he moved. With a flash of light, the brothers all collapsed in a pile.
The gentleman twirled his lance once in the air, then resheathed it behind his back. “Now, then… are you hurt, Miss?”
“Th, thank you so much! How can I possibly repay you…?”
“I only did what was natural. You don’t need to make it up to me.”
“Ah, but, at least tell me your name.”
God, this was cliche. And the gentleman’s reply only made it worse—
“It isn’t such a great deed that you need my name to remember it by.”
“B-but please! Please, all that I need is your name…”
The gentleman’s expression grew troubled. “I see… very well, then. My name is Silvawest Silwert…but I am called Sil. I am a member of the reputed lancer's clan. I am currently traveling from country to country, city to city, with the goal of proving the lance to be the world’s best weapon.”
“My, what grim work…”
Sil smiled. “Not at all. In fact, to have met a lovely lady such as yourself in this dingy port town in the Iyet Republic, a country that doesn’t even know left from right is just…”
The girl reddened. “Oh, my… Say, if you have the time, won’t you join me for dinner tonight? I must repay you… and besides, my parents are out on an errand today… I’ll be so lonely with the house all to myself.”
For some reason, the mustached owner of the teahouse looked most offended of all at her invitation. “B-but what about her fiance!? Didn’t she just say that she was engaged!?”
Ryner smiled bitterly. “Now, now. That kind of thing happens all the time.”
“Augh, god, it pisses me off! This is what I hate about ‘charming gentlemen’ like him! They get all the good things in life. They don’t leave anything for the rest of us!”
“Is it really worth getting upset over, though?” Ryner asked. “Besides, you have a good wife and kids. Isn’t that enough happiness for you? If you keep talking, your good wife is gonna beat the shit out of you!”
“Uuh… please don’t tell my wife that I said anything,” the owner said.
“So the tea is free then, right?”
“It’s just one cup! You can afford it!”
For some reason, Sil kept sneaking glances at Ryner and the owner as they went about their useless conversation. He was silent for a moment before replying to the girl. “I must thank you for your consideration… However, there is something that I absolutely must do here in this city.”
“Ah, I knew he was a good guy!” the teahouse’s owner said.
“So which is it,” Ryner mumbled.
“O-oh… what a shame,” the girl said. “But if you ever are inclined to, please, do pay me a visit. You will always be welcome.”
“I appreciate it, truly. Now I must continue carrying out my mission.” Sil bowed briefly. “Now, then.”
Without warning, he broke out in a sprint.
Ryner turned to the mustached owner. “Wow, he’s full of energy… He ran away like his life depended on it.”
“He’s the opposite of a good-for-nothing like you!”
“Don’t look down on me. See, I can run like that too, if it means I get to nap more l—”
Ryner’s sentence was cut short suddenly.
Even though Sil had been running away, in the blink of an eye his lance was aiming straight at Ryner.
“…Hey, why’s he pointing that thing at me—”
Ryner was cut off once more, this time by Sil’s scream. “Diiieeeee!!”
“Haaah!? You’ve gotta be kidding me! Why the hell are you attacking m—gyaaah!!”
Ryner moved as fast as he could to dodge, and it was a good thing he did; the chair he’d been sitting on was broken into pieces in an instant. Then its pieces were broken into even smaller pieces…
Sil’s power was unquestionable.
If that had hit Ryner, there was no doubt in his mind that he’d be dead.
Sil clicked his tongue. “Tch… so you managed to get away. But you won’t dodge the next one!”
Ryner had thrown himself onto the ground to get away. Now he stood in a hurry. “Gaaah! Wait a minute! What’s going on!? I mean, didn’t you just save that girl? Why are you attacking me?”
“There’s no point in trying to talk it out with me!” Sil yelled as he thrust his lance towards Ryner again.
“It’s not pointleeesssss!” Ryner dodged his attack again, then took the moment to glare at Sil. “Ugh, come on! The hell is wrong with you!? I honestly thought you were a gentleman! Do you just attack people at random, or what?”
The air around Ryner suddenly changed. His sleepy eyes turned sharp, and his lethargic limbs jumped into action.
Sil was strong enough that he had no choice but to take him seriously.
“So?” Ryner asked. “What do you want from me?”
Sil grinned. “You dodged! You can actually dodge my lance! Amazing! You’re the first person who I’ve ever met who managed to dodge my attack not once, but twice. You don’t leave any gaps to attack, and your eyes are so sharp now… Ah, I can only hope that you can make me even happier than this! You won’t be able to dodge this time!” With that, Sil spun his lance and readied it for another attack.
Ryner grimaced. “That’s not talking it out… Anyway, Mustache Man. Where’s that ‘gentleman’ now? He’s just a weirdo.”
But he didn’t get an answer. The teahouse’s owner had already left to go hide inside of his establishment, after all.
“Here I go!” Sil yelled and thrust his lance at Ryner with fantastic speed.
“Ugh, geez,” Ryner groaned. “What happened to my peaceful napping life…”
Ryner took a big step back to dodge, then quickly moved his hands to draw a magic circle made of light before himself. “I wish for thunder - Lightning Flash!” Light accumulated at the center of his magic circle, but…
Sil stopped his attack and grinned confidently and tightened his grip on his lance. “Hmph! Thunder spells won’t work on my lance! It’s thunder resistant, fire resistant, water resistant, and made of gold that nullifies all magic! The Silwert family has buried many a magician with our lancework. Thunder magic on your level could never—”
“You talk too much. I’m attacking now,” Ryner said and flicked his finger. Thunder roared out from his magic circle.
“That’s not going to work!” Sil said and twisted his lance to deflect Ryner’s magic.
But Ryner hadn’t aimed his thunder at his body. He’d aimed it at the ground below his feet.
“No way!”
Dirt, gravel, and smoke clouded the air.
Sil spoke through the debris. “A smoke screen! But you’re making light of my lance. I can sense when you approach whether I can see you or not. Consider yourself trapped. It’s my win!” he said and keened his senses.
Ryner couldn’t see him through the debris, but even he could tell that Sil was more focused than ever, a fact that he was conveying to Ryner through his small movements among the debris. “I’m going to take this seriously, okay?”
“Please attack whenever you’re ready. I’ll make you regret making my lance your enemy.”
“……”
One second was all it’d take to decide the winner of their match.
Ryner nodded once with a subdued expression on his face, then erased his presence and took baby steps… towards the owner hiding inside the teahouse and paid. “Okay, now tell that guy that I’m going home ‘cause it’s naptime.”
Those were Ryner’s parting words as he quickly left the establishment.
“Amazing!” Sil said from the teahouse. “I’ve never met an opponent who could completely erase his presence before! But I won’t lose! Please attack whenever you’re ready!”
So he said, but his enthusiasm was completely ignored…
---
“So basically, I ran into another troublesome weirdo here in Iyet… This place really attracts them,” Ryner commented as he ate a dango lunch in a restaurant where he was chatting with the endlessly beautiful Ferris Eris.
Her blonde hair seemed to glitter as she ate. She nodded to his story, expressionless as always. “Hm. He must be quite a sight if you, the reigning CEO of the entire weirdo industry, have something to say about him.”
“Yeah, so I’m not gonna listen to the story about how I reached the top. I really do think he’s a weirdo, though. He was acting like a total gentleman before attacking.”
For some reason, Ferris nodded in complete understanding. “Ah, I see. So that’s what makes someone weird to the CEO of the weirdo industry… I have to agree. I also think it’s strange. According to the readers’ survey, you’ve won the weirdo sex fiend poll for ten years in a row. You’ll soon be elevated to king. That’s why it’s so strange that someone would approach to take the crown from you at this vital time…”
Ryner wanted to say but I haven’t even known you for ten years! So who’s running that survey…!? He actually had all sorts of retorts lined up. Instead of using one, he just stared at her for a while before finally replying. “So what do you want me to say?”
Somehow, Ferris’ blank expression suddenly looked happy. “Nothing. I’m satisfied now.”
“That’s good,” Ryner said, then sighed.
Despite everything, it was a perfectly average afternoon for them.
But then someone spoke from the front door.
“Do you have any open tables?”
“Ah, yes. Come in. Would you like some lunch?”
“Yes. I heard that this restaurant has the best food in town.”
Ryner knew that voice. It was the same fake polite voice of the ‘gentleman’ from before. He shivered. “F-Ferris…”
“Mm? Every nerve in my body is currently focused on dango. Don’t talk to me.”
Ryner peered over at the door.
The waitress spoke again. “Please do take a seat.”
“Thank you so much,” the gentleman said. “Ah, the atmosphere here is perfect. I can definitely see why it’s so popula—prepare yourseeeelllffff!!”
Sil whipped out his lance and shoved it at Ryner with insane speed.
“Uwah! He’s really here!?” Ryner yelled and jumped away. The table they’d been sitting at broke into pieces, sending their food everywhere.
“You dodged again!” Sil said. “But I won’t let you get away this time!”
“Gaaah! Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you!? Why are you attacking me of all people? At least tell me why!”
“No need,” Sil said as he attacked. “After all, you will die here to the world’s greatest lance technique!”
“Oh, come on—”
Ryner didn’t get to finish. Why? Because…
“Ah… uhh… ahh…”
…Ryner couldn’t even scream. All he could do was make those pathetic little sounds. His whole body shivered at the scene unfolding before him.
All he could do was shiver.
Sil smiled, obviously pleased with himself. “So? Has my unyielding killing intent frozen you solid?”
Who cared about that?
After all, a demon was being born right in front of his eyes.
He had to… he had to escape… as soon as humanly possible.
A clear and pretty voice broke into his thoughts. “Who’s this, Ryner? The troublesome weirdo you spoke of earlier?”
“Y-yeah. Sure is,” he said and nodded awkwardly.
“Hmm. Is that so,” she said in a tone that she never used.
That only made Ryner shiver harder. He wanted to escape. He really did. But he was too scared to lift a finger, much less run… so all that he could do was fall deeper into despair as he waited for this nightmare to swallow him.
Ferris stood. No expression betrayed her emotions as her clear blue eyes looked down at the food—at the dango—that had been thrown on the floor when the table was destroyed.
“……”
This was hell itself.
“Well, it’s only natural that you’d be paralyzed with fear at a time like this,” Sil said. “You’re faced with the world’s best weapon used by the world’s best lancer, a child of the Silwert family. There’s obviously nothing that a simple magician such as yourself could do to stand up to those two great things.”
Ferris’ head snapped up. “What did you just say?”
Sil looked over to Ferris. “I said that my lance is far better than that longsword that you carry. There’s no competition. Are you familiar with the 300% rule? It means that a swordsman must be three times as strong as a lancer to be able to defeat him in battle. When faced with someone as strong as myself, my victory is really the only possible conclusion.”
Ryner was on the verge of tears. Stop. Just stop! Stop provoking her!
But it was too late.
Ferris walked over to a nearby table to stand across from Sil and spoke with a matter-of-fact tone. “Nothing you’ve said so far has any value, so just stop. I’ll tell you what really has value. What’s truly precious.”
She looked back down for a moment at what was ‘truly precious’ all over the floor…
It was terrifying. Ryner was at the point where he couldn’t even shiver.
“So what? You want to fight?” Sil asked. “You can’t win against me. After all, you’re not using a lance. It’s just a sword.”
“……”
Ferris didn’t respond. She just stared at the dango.
“You’ll get hurt,” Sil told her.
“………”
At th-the dango…
Sil took her silence as an answer. “That’s fine, then. Let’s go!” He readied his lance, and his form got hazy from how quickly he moved. He shot towards her.
Ferris picked a small steak knife up off the table in front of her. “Mm.”
She disappeared as though she’d been a mere illusion since the beginning… and made quick work of Sil, hazy or not.
“…….”
That was all it took to decide the winner.
Sil’s lance fell to the floor in eight distinct pieces. Then Ferris threw the small knife onto the floor in front of him. It stabbed through the ground and stood upright as a warning.
“The next time you dare to touch something precious to me… I’ll kill you.”
With that, Ferris left the restaurant.
It was overwhelming… and the very first time that Ryner had seen her go so hard on someone.
Sil just stood there, a dazed look on his face. It was like the ground had been removed from beneath him. “Th, that’s impossible… My, my lance… shouldn’t have lost to that knife… It’s impossible… Lances are supposed to be the strongest weapon in the world…”
Ryner told him so, and yet…
Then Ryner snapped out of his own daze and hurried after Ferris.
---
Dusk fell.
They were chatting on a street between the main shopping street and the inn that they were staying at.
“C’mon, you… well, guess there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Ryner said, tired, with a troubled expression on his face. “How’d things turn out like this?”
Ferris replied from his side. “Mm. It’s likely a curse brought about by your habitual wrongdoings.”
“Aah? It’s my fault? Weird. I don’t remember doing anything wrong… but anyway, that’s not the point.” Ryner raised his head towards the roof of a wooden building slightly to their right. “So? What do you think all of this is about?”
Sil was up there, equipped with a bow and arrow…
Ryner just stared at him for a moment. “Seriously, what’s wrong with him? Why’s he so persistent? He just keeps following us…”
“It’s simple,” Ferris said without hesitation. “He’s an old abandoned lover of yours intent on revenge.”
“What is it about me that makes you think I’d lay hands on another man!”
“Such is the nature of a pervert.”
“That’s definitely not my nature… ugh, this isn’t the place to argue about something as dumb as this. You beat the shit out of him like it was nothing and he’s still coming back for more. I just can’t understand what he’s thinking.”
It was at that moment that Sil took notice of them as they stared up at him from the ground.
“Ha, ha, haaa!” Sil laughed triumphantly, loud enough so that they could hear him easily. “Are you surprised!? If you think that you’re going to get out of this with a trap born from cowardice, then you’ve got another thing coming! It won’t happen again!”
“Did we ever use a cowardly trap in the first place?” Ryner asked.
Ferris nodded. “Mm. It is no overstatement that your existence itself is cowardly…”
“……”
She kept talking, but Ryner stopped listening. New day, new Ryner. He’d made a promise to himself to stop taking her bait.
But anyway.
Sil raised his fist. “And yeeet! I have changed! I have devised a new lance with which to spear your cowardice! Look at my simple but elegant new weapon! It is a miraculous long-ranged lance that I can fire to attack you before you even realize what’s happening! It’s proof that the lance is the world’s ideal weapon! Now I’ll attack you with my masterfully superior lance!”
With that, Sil… readied an arrow into his bow.
His bow.
No explanation was necessary. It was literally just a bow.
“……”
What could Ryner even say?
Sil aimed his arrow at them as he spoke. “Your life will end as a sacrifice to my great lance! Dieeee!” he screamed.
“The hell?” Ryner asked. “That’s not even a lance. It’s a bow.”
“What!?”
Sil’s expression changed to one of pure terror. The arrow bounced out from its spot on the bow as he weakly released his fingers.
“B-bow? Um, what? Bow?”
Ryner was so done with him. “Geez… you got that worked up about it and it never even occurred to you that it wasn’t even a lance?”
“Um, I mean, well,” Sil stuttered.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually that stupid.”
“…Uuh… well, I… umm… ah, haha, ha… If this really looks like a bow to you, then you need to get your eyes checked! It’s really my innovative new design where I use a tool to fire a lance a long distance… But just the fact that you’d see this as a bow… If I were to defeat you while you still believe in that delusion, my victory would be meaningless! I’ll let you go this time… ha, ha, haa…… uuh…”
With that, Sil used his obscene speed to escape from their sight. It wasn’t normal at all, the way he just… disappeared. It made his strength obvious. If they were just going off of physical ability, Ryner might actually lose in a fight if he couldn’t use magic. But even after seeing how staggeringly strong he was, the words that Ryner ended up saying…
“He just cried a little, huh…”
“Mm.”
“Is that something that you’d normally cry about? The hell was he trying to accomplish here?”
“Mm. Things are getting strangely more lively lately. People like him keep appearing. More are to come.”
“Whaaat? Noo. We don’t need any more idiots here. The world’s really gone to hell lately.”
“For real.”
With that, Ferris and Ryner set off towards their lodging while chatting.
---
The sun fell, and darkness rose. Danger lurked in that darkness. Even places that one knew well changed under nightfall.
The area around the inn that they were staying at was like that, too.
“Wow,” Ryner said, stupefied. “I have no words.”
There, in a bush next to his room, was Sil, making some attempt to hide. To his credit, he’d erased his presence. It was clear that he was skilled. He’d gone as far as to hold his breath and quiet the sound of his heart beating in his chest. It was perfect. A run-of-the-mill assassin could never.
With how skillful he was, if he’d done this the whole time, Ryner… no, even Ferris wouldn’t have noticed him.
But given the situation, all that Ryner could do was sigh despite Sil showing his masterful skill off. He stared right at Sil as he spoke. “I’m tired of sending this guy flying.” Seriously, he was at his limit.
Because, see… Sil had gone through all that trouble to completely erase his presence. There was no possible way that they would have noticed him… if his head hadn’t been sticking up halfway past the hedge.
He was literally sitting there holding his legs with his arms like he was waiting for his turn in gym class or something. It was so pathetic. His face made it worse.
To top it off, he was holding a stuffed animal—a pig with a fork and knife stuck in his head as though they’d naturally sprouted out of it. It was as though he’d passed some old ladies on his way home who gave it to him as a present, but then he somehow ended up here with it instead.
Ferris was the first to speak. “Alright, Ryner. Your friend is waiting for you. Go play.”
“No! I’m not doing it!” Ryner yelled, but it was in vain. Sil had noticed them.
“Muhu. As expected. You’ve managed to spot me despite my invisible presence…!”
“…Seriously, what do you even want from me?” Ryner asked.
Sil didn’t reply. Because why would he. Instead, he held his weird ass stuffed animal up with both hands, supporting the fork particularly well. “But the fact that you noticed me means that you’re out of luck! Finally, it is time to enact my masterful plan! I’ve spent so long perfecting it, and now the final touches are in place! This is it—proof of the fact that the lance that my family has mastered is the world’s most superior weapon! Faced with it, I’m sure that you’re so scared that you’re regretting being born right about now!”
What a grand speech.
And all the while… the little piggy that he was holding trembled… and trembled… and trembled……
Ryner just watched. He was getting dizzy from the shaking.
“God, you’re annoying!”
With that, a feather duster suddenly dropped from the pig.
Sil shrieked. “P-Piggyyy!?”
“That’s not a fucking lance!” Ryner yelled, even though he knew that it was absolutely pointless to even comment on these things anymore. Still, he held his head in his hands. “Ugh, seriously… what is it about us that makes you want to hang around so bad?”
Sil’s expression suddenly changed. He crouched down to take what the so-called lance—Piggy—had to offer. “Even I cannot fight with a weapon like this… fine. I will explain my criteria for defeat.”
“I’ll seriously kill you if it’s something stupid.” He hadn’t even started explaining, and Ryner was already tired of hearing it.
Sil brought Piggy to his chest and cradled him as though he was something precious. Then he began to speak as he stared up at the sky, nostalgia strong on his face. “Everything started with the lance. The head of the Silwert family chose lances for us over two hundred years ago. Since then, my family has been plagued with incidents. According to our records, the head went out one day and saved a horse that a man was using as prey… right, yes, and come to think of it, there was also—”
“Gaaaah! The hell are you doing? Recounting the last two hundred years? Just do the end! Start there!”
“Alright, then. Forty-two years ago—”
“Neither of us were even born yet! Ugh, this is awful. Ferris, can I just kill him?” he tried to ask, but Ferris wasn’t standing by his side.
She’d set up a blanket and had set a tea set out with the help of a paper lantern. She also had a box of dango. She had been elegantly staring up at the night sky, but she turned to face him at the sound of her name. “Mm? You two were still talking?”
“Ugh… okay. So I was the only one getting all fired up about it. Just say your favorite parts and tell me why you’ve been attacking us.”
Sil nodded. “You two are affiliated with Roland, are you not? Then are you two familiar with the greatly noble Eris family, who has guarded the royal family since antiquity?
“Huh? You’re from Roland too?” Ryner asked. “And like, we’re not just familiar with it. That’s literally Ferris’ family.”
“That’s right. Her family - the so-called swordsman’s clan - guards the king from the shadows. If one thinks of the strongest people in Roland, they think of the Erises, who stand at the center of the nation’s politics” Sil said, then his expression suddenly changed harshly. “How can those cowards call themselves users of the world’s ‘strongest weapon!?’ My family - the Silwerts - are now the strongest! Why, then, are we not treated like it!? It’s unforgivable!”
“Ahh, okay,” Ryner said. “So you wanna defeat Ferris to prove that your family’s stronger.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But that’s weird, right? I get you wanting to fight Ferris. I do. But why are you attacking me, then? I literally have nothing to do with this.”
“Oh, no, that’s just an order from the king,” Sil said without hesitation. “He said that he’d allow me to guard him instead of the Erises if I can just defeat you two…”
“Aaahhh, so it’s that bastard’s fault!? I’m seriously gonna kill Sion someday! No, actually, I’ll do it now! I’ll curse him until he dies!”
Sil tapped his hand on his palm, Piggy still cradled in his arms. “Oh, he said it. Ryner said ‘kill Sion,’ didn’t he? He did, right?”
“Huh? Yeah, I said it. So what?”
Sil took a note out of his pocket and unfolded it. “Umm, so this letter is from the king. I’ll read it to you. ‘So how was it? Pretty entertaining plot, huh? Well, Ryner is just going to say ‘I’ll fucking kill him,’ though. If Ryner says he’s going to ‘fucking kill me’ then show him these gold coins. He’s someone who you have to use the candy and whip tactic for. I won’t send him any money if he doesn’t do any work, and that’s that.’”
“Ah… uuh, ah, I’m tired of yelling about how upset I am,” Ryner whined. “Why is it that he can only communicate by pulling shit like this!”
“Mm,” Ferris said through her mouthful of dango. “That’s how he is.”
“Uuh… ugh, why do I just do what he tells me to do?” Ryner complained. “When did things end up like this? Whatever. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”
Sil nodded. “Dream well. I have matters to attend to in Roland, so I must return at once. I have to tell the king of the sight of you withering in pain…”
“Huh? At this hour? It’s the middle of the night. Besides, you do know how far away Roland is, don’t you?”
But his words fell on deaf ears. Sil had already disappeared with his usual speed. Ryner stared in his direction.
“Wow… he’s so energetic,” he mumbled absentmindedly.
---
Days passed, and Ryner and Ferris were back at the mustached man’s shop having tea.
“Geez, Mr. Ryner, please give me a break!”
He completely ignored it and stubbornly tried to live his sluggish life. But ignoring it didn’t make it go away. There went his afternoon…
“You didn’t let us go all the way yesterday, did you, little lady?”
“P-please stop! I’ll call Sir Sil…!”
“He won’t come even if you call him. He said some dumb shit about goin’ to the Roland Empire last night, and we watched and made sure of it. He’s left Iyet, and it’s not lookin’ like he’ll be back anytime s—”
Just then, the ruffian stopped, and fear washed over his face. It wasn’t just him, either. Ryner’s face was the same, to the point that it was unbelievable…
Because this shouldn’t be happening.
Iyet and Roland were not close. It wasn’t possible to go from one to the other in one night.
“Is he some kind of m-monster?”
The man in question ignored Ryner’s shocked whisper and quickly closed the distance between them. Then he spoke in his infuriating ‘I’m such a good boy’ tone. “Stop it! Ladies hate it when men act like that!”
It was Sil. Definitely Sil. Not only was it Sil, but he had that goddamn piggy in his hand…
“Impossible! You left Iyet yesterday. There’s no way that you could have come back so quickly…!” Then he called for his friends. “C’mon, guys—let’s get ‘em!”
The other ruffians took their swords out. They were big swords - much bigger than what they’d had yesterday. They made to cut Sil up with them.
But then Sil pulled the fork in the piggy’s head out, and the swords suddenly stopped, then twisted their way out of the ruffian’s hands.
Ryner’s eyes widened. “No way. Piggy’s that strong?” he couldn’t help but whisper.
Sil didn’t stop there. He lightly stroked the pig’s adorable little snout, and a sand-like substance flew from it and straight into the ruffians’ eyes.
“Gwah!? Wh-what kind of fearsome weapon is that!?”
“Ha-ha-haah!” Sil laughed, pride evident in his voice. “You’ve finally realized it—the magnificence of the world’s strongest weapon: the lance!”
“Kyaa! Lances are so cute!” the girl cooed.
Even the mustached owner had something to say about that. He was furious. “What? Are you really trying to tell me that that guy is popular because of a pig!? This world is so unfair!”
Ryner sighed. He had the same thing to say as yesterday: “It’s okay. Calm down, okay? The world is just like that—”
But he couldn’t finish.
Sil turned to face him, so the pig did too.
Ryner shivered. “D-don’t tell me I’m next…”
He was. A bright light flashed from his eyes, and something flew from his mouth, straight towards Ryner.
“Gyaaah!? I hate this! I hate this life!”
And so Ryner was chased around by Piggy not only that day, not only that night, but into his dreams…
---
Master of Spear
Previous | Next
Thanks for the chapter
Date: 2024-10-28 10:18 pm (UTC)