CH 56

That's Not enough To Make Me Take it Seriously

Translated by Mlzkzr

Edited by Mlzkzr

On the terrace of the royal palace, a young nobleman was receiving an award from the king.

This is a venerable festival, a game held in the presence of the King.

It’s a great honor to win and be commended there, but the guy’s face has turned red and he was trembling all over.

Because, I turned it down.

After achieving the same result using my opposite leg, showing everyone that “I was not yet serious”, I declined the award as a finishing touch.

As a result, there were no cheers as he received his award, and the people around him were laughing secretly at him.

“I don’t know how he can accept an award like that.”

“Don’t say that, he’s still the second place.”

“But that person was really amazing, where is that noble-sama? It’s the first time I see him this year.”

In return, my reputation has been incidentally boosted all over the place in retaliation for that guy, but well, I didn’t get serious, and I hadn’t shown my bottom, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

I fully enjoyed his face turning red from a distance, and then quietly tried to leave the place.

“Hermes.”

“Hmm? Your Highness Shou huh.”

It was the third prince, Shou Za Aegina, who stopped me.

After the incident with the Dragon King’s shadow, he, like Lina, began to take an interest in me.

“Turning down the award, it’s just like you.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve achieved my goal.”

It seemed that I need to openly talk with Shou and Lina to some extent, so I decided to be honest with them and not play dumb.

“What did Nex do? Well, if it’s him, then you didn’t have to say it, he probably said something extra.”

Shou said, while smiling.

I see, so, Shou knows that I have that kind of personality huh.

As I thought, it was a good thing I didn’t do a bad job of deception.

“More than that, I have to consult you with something.”

“Muh”

Shou’s expression changed dramatically.

The gentle smile that had been on his face changed to a hard, serious look.

He gave me a look as if telling me to follow him and walked ahead of me.

I’d rather not talk about serious matters, but that’s not possible when I’m dealing with Shou.

For the time being, I followed Shou just to ask what his story was.

From the inside of the palace, where the terrace could be seen, he made a wide circle and came to the other side of the palace.

As a result of sandwiching the palace in between, the festivities involving the people seemed to become more distant suddenly, as if it was an event happening in another world.

After entering the empty garden, Shou stopped and turned to me.

“Muh”

His expression, becoming more and more serious.

“Uhmm…… what did you want to consult……”

“It’s, about the meteorites that have been popping up all over the country lately.”

“――!”

Piku! Then, my eyebrows shot up.

“I knew you were smart.”

“……Fuh”

I exhaled a sigh.

Resigning myself, I answered Shou.

“Even a fool could understand that. It fell twice in the territory of the Canoe family alone. It’s harder to think of it as just a natural phenomenon by chance.”

“It involves the demons(mazoku) …… is it”

“……Yes”

I thought it was that too.

Shou looked up at the sky and began to speak.

“The meteorites that have been popping up all over the country these days, most of them have the added bonus of demons(mazoku) appearing inside them. We sense the will of something, but there are too few clues to trace it back.”

“You want me to find out what it is?”

It’s a paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain in the ass, that’s for sure.

“No, it’s not that far.”

I was relieved.

I know it’s too early to be relieved, but I was relieved nonetheless.

“In fact, yesterday, another one fell on the outskirts of Retim. I want you to eliminate it.”

“Eliminate? You’re not going to investigate it? If it just fell yesterday, then you don’t know anything about it, right?”

“First of all, it needs to be eliminated. We don’t want it to cause a fuss during the Selene Festival. The prestige of the country will fall to the ground. I want to get rid of it before something happens. Besides……”

Shou stopped speaking there and looked at me.

It was as if he was waiting for my response.

I sighed and said.

“……It will fall again anyway”

“Exactly”

If Shou’s story is true, it means that they are falling all over the country at random times.

Even if I eliminate the one that fell in the middle of the festival, it is easy to predict that it will fall again somewhere sooner or later.

“Please, will you do it. The compensation would be―― how about I cancel all your previous cross medals?”

“……”

Shou came up with a very attractive proposal.

It’s the price that Shou could pay me for knowing me so well.

That’s incredibly attractive.

Not long ago, I would have jumped on it without a second thought.

But, now I’m different.

I’m changing my policy to be normal.

On the contrary, it would be too conspicuous to cancel all four of the cross medals.

That’s no good, it will have an opposite effect.

“No, that’s fine. I don’t want a reward or anything. When it’s all over, you can pretend that His Highness did it all, and that’s all that matters.”

“Thank you! I’m saved.”

Shaw was incredibly pleased.

Well then, it became a bit troublesome, but…… I don’t have much choice.

☆

That night, with the help of the map Shou had given me, I left Retim and headed for the meteorite that was said to be in the suburbs.

My reason for moving at night was, of course, to carry out the mission without being seen.

That’s why I left nee-san at the inn in the Royal Capital. When she asked me where I was going.

『Look at this, I got a reservation for the best Orthia in the Royal Capital ――』

『So~i!』

I deceived her with such an exchange of words.

The Orthia Retim edition that I just got was sacrificed and turned into a star, but I will charge Shou for this later.

No, I think I might want to retract my previous remarks and made him bring me to Orthia, the best in the Royal Capital.

With this thought in mind, I walked along the road in the suburbs, which was not popular, and arrived at the location of the meteorite depicted on the map.

It’s similar to the meteorite that hit the outskirts of Pindos before.

So, just like the Sword Saint-jiisan, I must first crack it open and then exterminate what comes out of it.

I guess that’s okay.

Whatever it is, let’s crack it first.

Then, at the time I thought so.

“Oh, there you are.”

“You made us come all the way out here to the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, well, well, it’s easy to do it when you’re out of sight.”

Suddenly, with a frivolous tone, three men appeared.

All three of them was carrying torches and cheap but practical longswords.

Not to mention their tone, they’re really bad-looking people who look like they were not doing a decent business.

“What are you guys”

“My bad, mister, but I’m gonna have to get you to go through a painful experience.”

“You’ve gone too far, you know that?”

“Well, I’ll let you off with a finger or a couple of bones.”

“……”

I scrutinized the men’s words.

At the same time, I searched for signs around me.

Beyond the men, a dozen meters away, I felt the presence of a person hiding behind a tree.

Maybe that young nobleman―― he said he was Nex.

These thugs, are the ones he hired.

“Haa, there we go.”

One after another, the three men pulled out their longswords and came at me with thinly veiled killing intent.

“You’re not going to pull your out, mister. If you’ve given up, it’s easier for us to do our job.”

One of the men said mockingly.

You’re not going to pull your out are words directed the longsword that was hung on my waist.

I brought this in case of the meteorites and the demons that will come out of them.

“Well! There’s no point in pulling it out, though!”

One of them shouted, and the three of them slashed at me at the same time.

Gashi!

“Eh!”

“Wha!”

“That’s stupid!!”

At the same time, the three screamed in astonishment.

In the dark night, I grabbed the three slashes that emitted a cold light with my bare hand and stopped them.

I stopped all three of them between my fingers, my hand sticking out in a so-called “Pah”, pinching them.

Then, I twist my wrist.

Pakikiki~n!

There are three consecutive metallic sounds, and all three longswords broke.

I couldn’t take on any more small fries, so I threw away the broken tips of their sword as it was, and hit all of their vital points, knocking them out.

“Wha!”

This time, the voice came from far away.

It’s Nex’s voice.

“Hah……”

What a dumbass.

If you’re going to hide and watch, then hide until the end.

“Come on out.”

“……What, have you done”

Nex asked, glaring at me as he came out of his observation.

I don’t have to answer.

I stepped in silently and hit Nex at his vital point as well.

Let’s make this guy faint, quickly clean up the meteorite, and go home.

With that thought, I sank Nex without any question.

“Guha!”

Nex fell to his knees, but did not pass out.

It seems that I misread his capability a little bit.

Well, he’s the guy who came in second in the pumpkin kicking competition, beating out the other aristocrats.

I’m thinking he has the basic skills.

“Damn……damn……dammit……”

Nex cowered, repeating his words of resentment.

Let’s get another shot in and make sure he sinks.

“Muh!”

At that time, something happened.

Something black gathered around Nex.

When I looked at the source of what had gathered at him, it was from the meteorite.

Something black, which had formed as if leaking from the meteorite, gathered around Nex and was absorbed into his body.

“Guo, guooooo!”

Every time something black entered his body, Nex would scream in what couldn’t be described as anguish or anger.

While I was taken aback, Nex’s body swelled up and transformed into a bipedal monster, which was twice the size of a human.

“……Really, well”

Is this the kind of thing where it has taken over him through the darkness of his mind or something?

I glanced at the meteorite. Compared to the overwhelming presence of the monster in front of me, the meteorite had none of that.

I can’t feel anything from it, just a simple stone.

It seemed to have completely moved to Nex.

“Fuh”

“Yeah?”

When I turned around to see what was going on, Nex that had turned into a monster waved his arm casually to the side.

The shock wave ran straight across, creating a meter-deep ditch on the road.

“Wonderful, I never thought there could be anything so great and joyful in this world.”

“That’s not the tone of a monster”

“Monster? No, this is a power comparable to that of a god. It’s the power of destiny, that’s 120% compatible with me.”

“Hah…… is that so”

“Do you not understand the situation?”

Nex waved his arm once more, this time on the opposite side.

A ditch of the same depth ran to the other side.

“I don’t know what will happen if this power is wielded on a human body. I’m feeling good right now. That’s right, draw that sword, and I’ll let you slash me up to three times.”

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

“Don’t be shy, this is my mercy――”

I stepped into the Monster Nex’s bosom, and gave him a right hook diagonally from below.

“Guha!”

Nex’s legs lifted for a moment, and his body bent into a “く” shape.

“With that extent of power, I don’t need to take you seriously.”

“Wha, that’s stu――”

I landed another body blow, and something black flew out of Nex’s mouth after being hit twice.

I grab it and yank it out.

“Aaa,aaaaaaaaaaaahh!”

When I pulled the sly black thing out of his mouth, Nex started to get scared.

As I pulled out the object and extinguished it with fire magic, Nex, who is now a human again, was overwhelmed with despair and continued to stare at it with hollow eyes as it disappeared into the void.