Chapter 419

Chapter 419

Zaifa struck Unwaldo down.
I reflexively twisted my shoulders.
Kwazik!
A vertical spear blade struck him in the foot.
“Fuck.”
Unwaldo’s head had completely disappeared into the ground.
If it had been orthodox, I would have been Ro/Nan by now.
Zaifa’s tail wagged in interest.
“You’re lucky to have avoided this.”
“—It’s been a long time, Inspiration.”
I had to tilt my head all the way back to make eye contact.
The face of a tiger, a welcome sight, but far more ferocious and disfigured than I remembered, was on the armor.
This inspiration seemed to have some new struggles I didn’t know about.
Jaifa smirked.
“Do you know me?”
“Of course. You must be Zaifa Turgun, Swordswoman of the Empire. I never thought I’d meet you.”
“You’re talking about a strange thing–blackness, when did that happen?”
“Huh? If not you, then who’s the proofreader?”
“There’s no reason to answer that to a man who’s about to die. Is the traitor Schlieffen inside?”
His voice was impersonal, as if he were performing an official duty.
Suddenly, the engravings on the armor caught my eye.
An upside-down longsword was the symbol of the Imperial Army’s Special Forces.
Specializing in assassination or espionage.
My lips twisted as I realized what was happening.
“Damn, I’ve betrayed you.
A letter I’d seen in Barca’s hideout in the past haunted me.
Zaifa was a man who would have normally turned his back on the empire.
I get it.
It was he who had signed a memorandum with the Emperor that read like a slave contract, in exchange for the loss of his wives to the Empire, a failed rebellion, and the salvation of his Sioux compatriots.
In the original world, I had somehow succeeded in sensitizing him, but unfortunately, in this world, I had no zaifa and no noodles.
Barca’s plan worked, and he was naturally elevated to the top, and now he doesn’t even realize he’s being used.
I stuck my pockets in both hands and raised the corner of my mouth.
“I don’t see why you should answer that for me either.”
“Now that I think about it.”
Zaifa blurted out.
I wish I could have backed down against my logical self, but that didn’t happen.
He gripped the pole of his spear and spoke.
“I execute you for the murder of an Imperial soldier.”
The Unwaldo was drawn out in a flash and swung again.
The shot from the top right was much faster than before.
I sighed and tugged on the hilt of my sword.
“That’s the problem with knife-wielding assholes anyway.”
I know how to talk with a knife, not a tongue.
In the original world, he was a straightforward old man.
It was a car with a large spear blade trying to tear my body apart.
Kaaaaaah!
A holy sword shot out like a parry and struck Unyielding.
“Damn, that’s a lot of power. Are weartigers allowed to do this to humans?”
“Huh.”
I grumbled, sticking my tongue out.
Zaifa was stunned.
Unwaldo clashed with my sword, which was still in the air.
It was heavy, but compared to the Bald King’s punch or Akasha’s shockwave, it held up well.
At that moment, Schlieffen’s voice came through the half-open door.
“Zaifa—!”
“Ro, Ronan, who’s here, and what was that noise you just made?”
And my sister’s terrified voice.
Judging by the slight rustle of the wind, Schlieffen must be preparing for something.
I stared at Jaifa and shook my head.
“Don’t come out. Schlieffen. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“But.”
“You watch your sister. I’ll take care of this inspiration.”
“—— Got it.”
The wind has died down.
They were surprisingly receptive.
Jaifa was looking down at me with an incredulous expression.
“Okay. If you don’t want to answer that, I’ll have to ask you something else.”
I don’t think we should think of him as the same person as Zaifa in the original world.
Spitting on the floor, I asked him back.
“How did you go from being such a badass tiger to being an asshole who wipes his brother’s shit?”
“—What?”
“If you don’t get it the first time, you must have blocked your ears. Why don’t you get your dirty feet off my porch first?”
I didn’t like it from the beginning.
The balsa my sister had woven from straw was crushed beneath her huge, puffy feet.
The engaged sword fell.
I scattered the hits as it were.
Dozens of strands of swords, unrecognizable to the average person, cut through the air.
“——!!!”
Zaifa’s hair stood on end.
Unwaldo’s eyes widened in horror, and he fought back.
Sparks flew every time the blades touched.
Zaifa parried almost all of his attacks, but the multiple stabbing strikes were enough to knock the Weartiger’s giant back.
One in ten unblocked blows carved scars across his body.
Kaaaah!
A sweeping, spinning blade slammed into Unwaldo.
“Great!”
Jaifa gritted his teeth.
Like a nodo, I finally stopped slashing.
Before we knew it, we were more than twenty steps away from the hut.
From the front door, Jaifa’s blood was scattered like roses.
He cleared his throat and the corner of his mouth twitched up.
“—This is amazing, where has someone of your caliber been hiding all this time?”
“A parallel world. Similar to this one, but different. There, you’re one of the heroes who saved the world, and you’ve settled the score with my girlfriend–no, I mean, former warlord.”
“Is this a popular joke among kids these days?”
“I’m not kidding. By the way, you seem to have weakened a bit. Disappointing.”
“What?”
“I guessed that from the stupid armor you’re wearing—but I’m just going to tell you the truth, Inspiration. There’s no reason for us to fight, and it’s not about killing a few soldiers who aren’t even soldiers right now.”
Luckily, Zaifa didn’t come out and say, “Cut the crap!” and start firing swords.
My head felt a little cold from the blood drainage.
“It’s not like they’re brainwashed like the SS or something.
To be honest, I didn’t really want to fight Zyfa.
He was stubborn, a primitive who worshipped brute force over intellect, but he was a good tiger by nature.
In the original world, they were drinking buddies.
I twirled the sword around and opened my mouth.
“You’re being played by Barca. The son of a bitch doesn’t see you as a brother, he sees you as a tool to be used, and your son, Aradan Turgun, is proof of that.”
“How could you name that—!”
Jaifa’s brow furrowed.
His pupils narrowed vertically, and the flesh rose above his shoulders.
She was still sensitive to her son’s problems.
“Varka, as you may know, is a student of the dark arts, his specialty being necromancy. Believe it or not, he’s resurrected the corpse of poor Aradan and wields it as his secret weapon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, that’s how I’ve been in the world, and I don’t see why it should be any different here. Let me tell you something that will give you more credibility. Let’s see. I’m guessing you used to live up north—”
I recited the information I had read in Jaifa’s letter.
From the town you once lived in, to your wife’s name, to how you felt the day you decided to raise Night of the Fangs.
Zaifa’s face, which had been stoic at first, was growing increasingly flushed with embarrassment.
“So–you’re saying that Varka is the bishop of a religious group called the Nebula Clasie?”
“Exactly. I don’t know, isn’t that the northern cornucopia right now? Deformed babies are being born, and it’s all his doing.”
“It was a jerk named Jager who broke the North.”
“That’s frustrating. So it was your brother who piloted that Jager. You don’t believe me when I tell you that?”
“——now stop.”
Jaifa growled.
It was a sign that he was shaking, even though he was acting like he was fine.
At times like this, I had to be sure to instill doubt.
I said, ignoring Jaifa’s protests.
“If you don’t believe me, go to Varka now. I’m sure he has your son somewhere in the palace. I used to hide it inside my cloak, but I don’t know how he keeps it now—”
“Shut up, kid, I’ll rip your mouth off!”
It was then.
Impatient, Zaifa roared and charged.
A shadowy, grayish aura enveloped the blade of Unworldly’s spear.
“I knew it.”
He was an Auror of Zaifa.
I kept my cool and responded.
I didn’t expect to be persuaded by words in the first place.
The blow that cut through space clashed with my sword.
Kaaaaaah!!!
A violent shockwave tore through the atmosphere.
A flock of birds flew over the forest.
The windows of the hut were shattered.
“Kaaaah!”
“Sister?!”
Suddenly, I heard my sister’s screams from inside the house.
I turned my head in surprise.
I saw my sister shivering in front of the broken window with her head in her hands and Schlieffen wrapped around her.
His forehead was bleeding profusely from the shrapnel he’d failed to block.
“Ms. Irene, are you okay?”
“I, I’m fine, you’re the one who’s bleeding from the forehead—!”
“It’s no big deal, I’m glad you’re okay.”
Schlieffen smiled softly.
The way she never looked away from Jaifa showed her trust in me.
With tears in her eyes, she began to examine Schlieffen’s wounds.
Watching that scene made my head spin.
Jaifa’s voice echoed in the back of my head.
“Where are you looking!”
His red eyes were already furious.
Leaping high into the air, Zaifa swung the Unworldly Sword with both hands.
Instead of glaring back, I leaned back.
A dark horizon stretched across the sky.
A distant hill in the same direction has been bisected.
Kaaaaaah!!!
There was a loud boom, followed by the screams of the villagers.
Fortunately, no one seemed to be hurt.
I muttered, my eyes fixed on the sky.
“——because of you.”
“Die!”
That’s when Zaifa landed.
Black Meng Hao lunged at me, not giving me a chance.
An auror-encrusted bludgeon aimed for my throat.
Ka-bang!
With a bounce, I lifted my upper body to deflect his blade.
“What the—!”
“You almost hurt my sister, you charred piece of shit!”
I have a fever in my head.
I kept my grip on the hilt.
The blade flushed red, and anticipation surged.
With a push, the red blade dug in, slicing through the unyielding unyielding.
“What.”
Jaifa’s eyes widened.
Before he could react.
My sword, which had just cut through Unwaldo, drew an arc.
A red line was drawn over Jaifa’s armor.
Boom!
Fountains of blood gushed from the cracks in the armor along the sword path.
“Kaboom!”
Jaifa coughed up blood.
But I didn’t stop there.
I almost hurt my sister because I wasn’t disciplined from the start.
He unsheathed his sword and clenched his fists.
My heart started racing as I switched power sources.
Paaaaaaaaah—!
A golden glow wrapped around his right arm.
Muscle density exploded and my arms felt heavy.
An Auror for my eternal gift and friend, Professor Varen.
“Wait—!”
Zaifa gulped as she staggered back.
It was as if he instinctively sensed the disaster that was about to befall him.
He hurriedly threw the scrap metal Unwaldo away.
He crossed his arms and took a defensive stance.
Weartigers are a fraudulent race.
I simply overlapped my forearms, no different than a shield made of black iron.
“If you block it, it’s your body!”
Of course, it didn’t really matter.
I spun at the waist and recoiled, then drove my fist into Jaifa’s guard.
I could feel the bones breaking.
The guard is released.
It was the moment when the regime that had crept in through the cracks hit the nail on the head.
Kaaaaaah!
Zaifa’s body flew with a golden glow and crashed into a giant zelkova tree.
“C’mon!”
The deep-rooted giant tree was not broken.
Jaifa’s gills spat blood once more.
The glow around his right arm dissipated like snow melting.
“Whoa—whoa—whoa.”
It’s been a while since I’ve used it.
I slowly walked over to Jaifa.
My broken left arm was turned in a strange direction.
Bloody saliva dripped down its gaping maw.
His head bowed, his back against the tree, he looked like he was sleeping.
“—Let’s clear your head and come back to this.”
I ran a hand through my sweaty hair.
I was breathless because I hadn’t used this technology in a long time.
A normal person would have been dismembered by now, but he’s a tough guy, and he’d be back to his senses in a couple days at most.
Schlieffen’s voice came from the back of the room.
“The man who was my international sword—!”
“Uh, hey.”
I turned around and saw my sister and Schlieffen, who were both stunned.
Schlieffen’s forehead was tucked into an apron his sister had wrapped around him as a bandage.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Is it going a little fast on this side?
I snorted and opened my mouth.
“Okay. I’ve decided.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just realized that after fighting Jaifa.”
Zaifa was a foe that swooped in like a bird of prey.
Unless we eliminated the source, pursuers like him would keep coming.
I covered my sister’s ears with both hands.
“I think we should destroy the empire once and for all.”
“——what?”
“Huh? What did Ronan just say?”
Schlieffen frowned.
My sister, who hadn’t heard anything, giggled.
In fact, from the moment I sold my face to Pileon Academy, I knew what I was going to do.
He gestured in the direction of the imperial palace.
“I’ll get rid of it before it becomes more of a nuisance, which won’t be long.”