Volume 4 Chapter 13.3
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「You’d better stop doing that.」
「Ka～y」
The octogals obeyed Douga, who had a wry smile on his face. But they were still in prank mode, as demonstrated by how they left Artiem and went straight on top of the priests’ heads.
「How’s it feel～?」
And they asked strange questions.
「This isn’t Wulls, so keep the pranks to a minimum」
「Ka～y」
Aearis lightly scolded them, and the octogals returned to their vase, except for one of them that of course jumped on Aearis’s head.
「Did that help a bit?」
「……Yes. Sorry……」
「No no. People always have those days.」
Artiem apologized profusely while straightening her clothing as Aearis responded cheerfully. While relieved that the room had relaxed, Artiem also felt rather bad about forcing Aearis to listen to complaints she also probably had.
「But ultimately no problems have been solved.」
「These problems can’t be solved in a day or a night, so don’t worry about it. Plus I am even less capable than you at protecting myself.」
「But you’re better at being a priestess, right?」
「That’s just years of experience.」
Aearis said firmly to Artiem’s objection. She had used this power since she was born. Sure, their powers were of equal essence, but Aearis wouldn’t lose to Artiem, who had only awoken to her power three months ago.
To borrow Hiroshi’s words, most situations were a culmination of acclimation, guts, and inertia.
「So all we can really do is keep training.」
「Yes. It’s usually never a good sign when you get an amazing ability in a short amount of time. Haruna still struggles with the magic she learned from Alfemina at Wulls castle.」
「Is that true?」
「Yes」
Artiem’s eyes were wide open at what Aearis said. Haruna always gave off the impression that everything was easy for her, so you’d never imagine she struggled, even with goddess powers.
「Haruna-sama is really no different. Normal people like us have no choice but to work at it.」
「You’re right.」
Artiem nodded multiple times at Aearis. Neither of these girls appeared to realize that everyone around them was seriously questioning the notion of them being “normal”.
「Then first I need to reduce the size of my overly-large chest. Instead of appealing, it actually puts on the pressure and makes things worse.」
「No no, please don’t do that!!」
This next objective of Artiem’s was something that the priests, maids, octogals, and even Aearis strongly objected to.
「Haruna-san! Mio! Are you okay!?」
Hiroshi asked the two girls in his arms as he stepped firmly on the darkness that had quickly spread out, which in turn shattered with his attack, leaving nothing.
「Eh, ah, yeah. I’m fine.」
「Sensei, we should be asking you if you’re okay.」
Unable to keep up with the situation and shocked at being hugged by the man they liked, Haruna and Mio just managed to get out their answers with their faces red as beets. But as excited as they were by touching his sturdy body, they were equally concerned for him.
「Nah, this ain’t nothin’. I’m fine.」
Hiroshi appealed, but with a clearly ashen color on his face. The darkness had in fact not managed to deal with Hiroshi’s ridiculously tough spirit, vanishing without doing anything. The reason his face was pale was actually because he had held two female bodies in his arms (even if it was in the heat of the moment).
「You sure don’t look it……」
「So, I’m sorry but could we git outta this position now?」
「Eh? Ah, sorry! Yeah, we’re fine now!」
Haruna and Mio did their best to step away from Hiroshi, panicking when they saw the color of his face and gaining a distance that wouldn’t be of too much pressure on Hiroshi. It took a bit of work to rip themselves off him, since they were so comfortable.
「So what was that……?」
「Prolly the mastermind. Actually, I feel like they got us good.」
Looking frantically around, suddenly the girls saw a multitude of miasma emerging, surrounding them in a magic circle.
「Dunno if this is a skirmish or the real deal, but this looks like a boss fight.」
「Yeah」
Nodding at Hiroshi, who had shifted to full plate mode, Haruna reluctantly put on her fluid metal armor just in case. She had coating over her orichalcum breastplate, so this was not the typical fanservicey style as when she wore it over her clothing.
Upon further inspection, Mio also had the same coating over her laser armor. This was made with behemoth materials just like Tatsuya’s, so it had more defense than that of the orichalcum.
「Let’s see what arrives before us.」
「Probably going to be an pleasant visitor one way or the other.」
Tatsuya spoke next to Haruna, and Makoto stepped in front of him as she commented. As if verifying their words, multiple “somethings” emerged from the magic circle.
「……Are you kidding me……」
Gaping at the new enemies, Tatsuya groaned out a few words.
「Depending on how you look at it, this might be our chance.?」
「……Mio, to be able to say something like that in this situation, you’re a bigshot alright.」
「Actually, it’s a staple to defeat enemies one by one when the same varieties appear in numbers of more than 3 digits.」
「What kind of universe has that staple……」
Makoto and Mio had their little two-man routine as they saw over 100 enemies appear.
「That system does often work in TRPGs.」
「No, I don’t really see that working with barolds as our opponents.」
Mio continued to speak in a meta manner as Haruna made a low key remark, feeling cold sweat develop on her back. Yes: the enemies that had emerged were unmistakably Barold, and over a hundred of them.
「But hey, at least it’s just Barold. We pretty much have their attack patterns down.」
「Yup. Even if they don’t go down in one hit, it’s just Barold, y’all. If we clean ‘em up in their first form then there ain’t nothin’ to be afraid of!」
Hiroshi declared with fighting spirit, in agreement with Mio’s bold statement as he swung the pole axe in a wide arc above his head.
「So with that said, c’mon over here!!」
As per usual, howling with Outface activated, Hiroshi gathered the attention of as many barolds as he could. And thus, the spark in the final fight in the evil god arc of Forre had been lit.
「And so it begins.」
「Indeed.」
Far off, the dark lords in charge of the western region were watching the fight.
「As expected, the initial firepower turned out to be a dud, but it looks like we have them where we want.」
「But this is still Barold, and in mere numbers, without any sort of superior intellect. We do not know how long they will last.」
A nodded slightly at B. They hadn’t put much stock in this to begin with, and there was even the possibility of Hiroshi’s team sweeping the floor without tiring. If that were to occur, the lords would no longer have any options left.
「So for now, you prepare so that you can access the location whenever?.」
「Yes. Of course I was never thinking of just watching from the shadows without meddling.」
「Is that so. Then what is your first plan of action?」
「With that man there, any sort of direct magic approach will just be canceled, which in that case, I think it would be proper to interfere with the very ground he stands on.」
「Ah, I see.」
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