Holy Water.
One of the final consumable crafting items.
A legendary item said to appear once every ten thousand playthroughs.
Perhaps that was why. I had succeeded in obtaining Holy Water, but I ended up paying a terrible price for it.
“O-One side of Zero’s head is gone!”
Just as Raymon said, one side of my head was missing. Like Hoppangman, maybe?
Then would that make me Zero-bun-man? That sounded like a name with no nutritional value whatsoever.
Well, I was confident I would taste amazing, though.
“You’re exaggerating again. You want to keep messing around?”
Luna yanked on my hair.
Then the hair that had been flattened by Luna’s saliva returned to its original shape.
“Keke, but the pain was real. It truly felt like one side of my head had been torn off.”
“Ugh, you really are so much work.”
Luna stood on tiptoe and stroked my head.
It was an unusually gentle, warm touch for Luna.
The problem was that she was rubbing the opposite side from the one she had bitten.
“See? You really can’t live without this big sister, can you?”
“Keke, wouldn’t this never have happened if you hadn’t bitten me in the first place?”
“…”
“-is not something I should say, correct?”
Only after teeth marks appeared on my hand did I realize I really should not have said that.
As I shook the saliva off my hand, I overheard Alex and Yuridia talking.
“But how did Daike survive?”
“Hmm… is that really important right now?”
“It might be the key to solving the problem. Zero also said we should try talking before we fight.”
That had just been an excuse, though.
Unaware of my thoughts, Alex simply showed his characteristic golden smile.
“Keke, I do not know either. All I can infer is that he struck a deal with Duke Zeppelin.”
“Deals usually come with a price. What price did he pay in exchange for ignoring tradition?”
“I am certain it was a price equal to a life. You all clearly saw Duke Zeppelin’s attitude when he said, ‘Being young is not a condition that earns forgiveness,’ did you not?”
Perhaps they remembered my shattered hand and leg, because the children’s bodies trembled slightly.
“That’s true. Still, isn’t this a positive sign? In the end, he ignored tradition and accepted Teron’s deal.”
“I see. So he is still his father after all? In that case, even if we defeat those two, maybe nothing bad will happen?”
The children’s faces brightened at once.
But this was nothing more than a hopeful train of thought, one that expected the result to be good.
“I’m not so sure… I cannot say that for certain.”
“What do you mean?”
“It seems Teron was not the only one who paid the price.”
Questions appeared on the children’s faces.
Yuridia was the first to grasp what I meant.
“I see. You’re saying Teron and Daike both paid the price together, aren’t you?”
“Exactly. It is difficult to believe that young Teron could have offered a price that would satisfy the Duke by himself.”
Duke Zeppelin had not gone easy on him just because he was his son.
That meant he had not ignored tradition and granted him a chance simply because Teron was his child.
The children’s eyes sparkled as if urging me to continue, but this was all the information I could provide.
‘I don’t know everything to begin with. There’s a hidden truth here.’
I did not want to cause confusion with pointless speculation.
Perhaps something had occurred to them, because Yuridia and Victoria quietly began exchanging opinions.
I subtly moved closer and eavesdropped on their conversation.
“I knew there was a reason they were always together. I thought there had to be something between them!”
“That’s right. It is pure love.”
“Huh? Why is that pure love? Isn’t it friendship?”
Alex’s question was perfectly reasonable.
However, what he received in return was the sharp glare of the Yu-Vic duo.
Of course.
“Because it is pure love.”
Nod.
The Yu-Vic duo crossed their arms and joined forces.
What in the world did pure love mean to these girls?
“Well, I do agree that it is a reasonable question. Can a relationship between two men, rather than a man and a woman, also be considered pure love?”
“It is a philosophical question. It would be a perfect topic to discuss at the fourth meeting of the Love Aid Club. I shall issue a summons this weekend.”
A Love Aid Club meeting? That existed? And they had already held three?
How many absurd rumors had they spread this time?
Anger surged within me, but it soon calmed. I had come up with a good idea.
‘This works out perfectly.’
Love Aid Club was not an organization that would disappear just because I cut off the head.
It was a bizarre group that revived and grew stronger as long as even the lowest-ranking members survived.
I had been racking my brain because I could not identify their members or true nature, but now they had a meeting where everyone gathered in one place?
I would wipe them all out at once.
‘In the name of the Dark Beast Squad!’
After that, the jokes continued here and there.
But that brief leisure ended the moment we arrived at our destination.
“…You’re late.”
As if struck by a silence spell, everyone closed their mouths.
Daike’s greatsword was embedded upside down in a thicket full of leaves.
With both hands resting on the pommel, Daike stood there like…
“A knight…”
“His presence is no joke either.”
“He looks ready to fight no matter how you look at it. The first exchange is going to be important. Zero, we can leave it to you, right?”
“?”
The burden was passed to me in an instant.
Well, in a way, it was only natural. I had handled most of the conversations and negotiations so far.
The problem was that this hidden piece was a first for me too. In the original, Alex was the one who opened the first conversation.
Uh… what did he say again? Something about why we were late?
“Keke, we would have arrived on time if you had set an appointment.”
“…”
Thoom!
Daike pulled the sword out of the ground and swung it with both hands in a wide arc.
Craaaack!
The tree trunk struck by the blade shattered as though it had been hit by a bomb.
The tree, now missing its middle, collapsed backward with a heavy thud.
“He seems angrier than expected. I wonder if something unpleasant happened.”
“It’s because of you!”
“It’s because of you!”
Wasn’t this your fault for leaving it to me?
Perhaps because the situation had grown serious, Alex hurriedly stepped forward.
“Daike, calm down. We only came here to talk.”
“What need is there for conversation between us?”
“You made a deal with the Duke, didn’t you? Both of you.”
Daike’s body flinched. That meant the Vyuern family’s tradition was real, and so was the deal.
“We’ll help you. Whatever it is.”
“…There is only one way to help Lord Teron.”
Daike’s greatsword pointed toward us.
“Hand over every last headband and leave. Then bow your heads before Lord Teron.”
“Even if he takes first place like that, it won’t solve the problem. It’ll only delay it a little longer. There has to be a better way.”
Whoooosh.
A heavy gust of wind blew. It was the wind created by Daike’s movement.
Daike soared so high it looked as though he might touch the sunlight itself.
His body dropped in an instant, his greatsword gripped firmly in both hands.
His target was me.
I gripped my scabbard tightly with both arms and raised it toward the sky.
Boom!
My scabbard and Daike’s greatsword collided.
The impact sent leaves fluttering everywhere.
“Kugh!”
An intense pain shot through me, strong enough to make me wonder if my arms had broken.
Luna rushed in and swung her sword. Daike leaped backward and avoided the attack.
“Hey! Are you okay?!”
I was fine. This was nothing more than a tutorial for the gimmick.
A tutorial that attacked the strongest person in the party and explained Daike’s gimmick.
I decided to faithfully fulfill that duty.
“I am fine. However…”
I showed everyone my trembling arms.
“It seems each person can only block him once.”
Daike’s gimmick.
If you allowed two attacks, you died instantly.
In other words, you could only afford to take one hit.
“Even after Zero blocked it, he took that much damage… It would be best to be careful. Death is something even I cannot overcome.”
For reference, even if you successfully defended like I had, it still counted as allowing one attack.
Dodging was an exception, but…
“H-Hiiing… I don’t want to fight my friend!”
Even Raymon, that evasion monster, was bound by the same rule this time. The reason was that he and Daike were friends—though Raymon was the only one who thought so.
In other words, there were only two ways to break through Daike’s gimmick.
Allow only one hit, or get lucky and trigger an evasion judgment.
‘You could also break through it by using a skill that grants invincibility frames… but nobody here has a high-grade skill like that right now.’
That was why I had brought the sandbags.
As long as we took turns receiving his attacks one by one, defeating Daike would be no trouble at all.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Are you seriously trying to kill him?”
“I am.”
“That guy really…!”
“You must have felt it from that strike just now. Tricks that toy with me through words will no longer work.”
“Keke, toy with you? When have I ever done that?”
“Always. You bewitched Lord Teron with sweet words and actions. That sin is far too great to describe.”
When did I ever? He was treating me like some kind of succubus.
“Zero did do that, though.”
“He did test the waters quite a lot. Though in the end, he could not overcome Luna’s love.”
…It might be better to eliminate those two while I had the chance.
Daike’s sword pointed at Alex.
“Alex, the same goes for you. You spoke of justice and destroyed the convictions Lord Teron had built up.”
“Is living justly a bad thing?”
“…You do not know what Lord Teron has gone through.”
“Of course I don’t. He never told us. Can’t you tell us now?”
“I refuse. I have neither the time nor the reason.”
Daike steadied his breathing.
It was Daike’s personal ritual before a fight.
I instinctively knew I had to disrupt that breathing.
“How ridiculous. What exactly do you want to be to Teron?”
A hunting dog? A knight? A child sacrificed to tradition?
They were all different in nature, but they had one thing in common.
They were paths he had chosen for Teron’s sake. And when one looked at those paths, they could see the path Daike truly wished to walk.
“A friend. You must have dreamed of standing beside him as a friend and walking the same path.”
Daike’s breathing shook violently.
That was right. Daike thought of Teron as his friend. Teron felt the same.
They had hidden it away because they feared the Duke, but they were friends.
“I can see it.”
I could see the image of a young Daike crying out, begging someone to protect his friend Teron.
Tears flowed from Daike’s eyes.
Everyone was flustered by the sight they were seeing for the first time.
“…There is nothing I can do. No matter what I do, I cannot break the Duke’s shackles.”
“Daike…”
“No matter how much I think about it, the only answer is for me to die. Only then can Lord Teron… no, only then can Teron survive.”
Daike’s confession was a broken mess.
Alex placed his arm on my shoulder.
“But with us, it’s possible.”
“It is impossible.”
“Impossible is just an excuse made by those who run away. And even if it is impossible, you still have to challenge it. That’s what a friend does, right?”
As I listened to Alex’s endless positivity, I struggled to remove his arm from my shoulder.
If two men stuck together like this, the Yu-Vic duo would start making up weird stories again!
“Save… him.”
“Huh?”
“Please save Teron. I will trust you.”
“Daike…”
“Go, quickly! Before my heart changes!”
“Then we’ll pass through.”
Alex ran past Daike. Daike truly did not stop him.
The hand gripping his sword trembled.
It was the aftereffect of disobeying his master’s order. The soul of the hunting dog engraved deep within his body was trying to awaken.
“Luna…”
I had to go toward Teron as well.
The moment I called Luna to explain the precautions, she spread one palm toward me and spoke.
“Go. Don’t worry about me. We don’t have time to waste right now, do we?”
And then.
“Besides, I’ve got a debt to pay him back for.”
That was right. Luna intended to surpass him today.
Daike, the official number one in combat power.
Luna was no longer the Luna of the past. However, Daike was no ordinary character either.
A five-star knight who had yet to awaken aura. A genius among geniuses.
To be honest, it would be difficult for Luna to defeat Daike.
However.
‘With the main characters and the sandbags here, it should be enough.’
She just had to survive. Surpassing him could happen another time.
I ran after Alex. Daike let me pass.
“T-Take me with you too!”
Baaang!
Raymon rolled to the side. No, he was sent rolling.
Because Luna had thrown her entire body into him.
“You idiot! Are you trying that hard to get yourself killed?!”
“Uwaaah! I don’t want to fight my friend!”
“Open your eyes! How does that look like a friend to you? Right now, he’s…!”
Leaves and dust swirled like a storm. Within it, Daike’s eyes gleamed ominously.
The Daike who had been crying and pleading just moments ago was nowhere to be found.
What stood before them now was…
“A hunting dog…!”
“I am sorry, but none of you can go.”
“Let’s just all go together and talk it out! You want to save Teron too, don’t you?”
Daike looked at each of the children one by one.
They were good children.
They had made him, someone who had never been allowed emotions, laugh and cry from the heart.
Aside from Teron, they were the first children who had made him think he might someday use the word “friend.”
But in the end.
‘It is not something permitted to me.’
He stopped thinking. For now, he only needed to obey.
-Stop them. Do not let anyone other than Alex and Zero come here. This is… an order.
“I will simply carry out my order.”
Because a hunting dog had no reason to live if it could not fulfill its master’s command.
If it was his master’s order, he would carry out anything.
Even if that order was to die.
That was the fate of a hunting dog.
The ten years of discipline he had endured and the scars engraved into him like tattoos naturally pushed his emotions away.
Once his emotions as a human were driven out, the soul of the hunting dog awakened.
“Come at me.”
Daike, the hunting dog.
“It seems we have no choice but to fight.”
“He is well and truly insane.”
“Fine, come on! If we beat you down, you’ll come to your senses!”
“I-I don’t want to fight my friend!”
Yuridia, Victoria, Luna, and Raymon.
“This is worse than I expected. Everyone, be careful.”
“You’re the one who should be careful. Don’t stupidly clash swords with him.”
“Don’t worry! I’ll protect all of you!”
“I’ll support from the back!”
The Sandbag Quartet.
And.
‘H-Hiiiiik! Wh-What are we supposed to do when the two strongest people leave us behind?!’
The moment a certain rabbit’s battle began.
–TL Notes–
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Holy peak!!!
And that Holy water is to purify Demon Trace on Teron for sure!
And Love Aid club have surpassed Demon cult from other novels now isn’t it?