The Ladykiller

Ria didn't think about something like how to win.

She knew she was going to win. Her objective was how to give as disgraceful a defeat as possible.

Since coming to this world and becoming royalty, she'd done the opposite of repressing it.

Ria was a sadist.

 

 

The sword flashes were all either dodged or parried.

Exchanges like these even lasted for a few minutes.

Already, looking at the girl in front of her on the street, Shizuna no longer thought her a weak Ojou-san.

Despite continuing to regard herself like so until now, why hadn't she considered there being someone else like her?

Even the surrounding spectators, though Shizuna was one-sidedly attacking, they had noticed Ria hadn't been scratched by her even once.

There were too many people's eyes watching.

If this was a one on one duel in the wilderness, it would have been fine for her to call it a draw.

But with this many people watching, she, who had introduced herself with her nickname, could not afford to appear unsightly.

Something like her pride and vanity were one thing.

Another was her trump card, her magic sword.

"Warp."

With that word, the sword multiplied.

 

 

"Ah, that's the G[]rian Sword!"

Serge, who'd been watching, shouted forcefully.

"You know it!? Serge!"

Carlos asked in voice of true admiration.

"That sword, or rather that bladed whip, is a hard weapon to handle. But with magic weapons, they can just move properly by being handled by a person's magical power!"

"A whip blade huh. Certainly, if it wasn't moved with magical power, it would be a lot to handle."

Lulu's tsukkomi was terribly calm.

 

 

Shizuna's sword disconnected into segments, the blades attached to the whip attacking Ria from all sides.

However, Ria's impression was a single word.

"Ridiculous."

She forcefully stuck the blade closest to her. She loaded it with plenty magical power.

Then, interfering with the magical power used to manipulate the whip, Ria created an opening between the blades for her to attack.

Evasion, martial arts, combined with her flexibility and movement skills, she was able to easily evade.

The bladed whip returned back into its original form as a long sword. Unnaturally, Ria just shrugged her shoulders.

She just wouldn't do something like that. Kill when it's time to kill. Don't needlessly torment someone. Ria was that kind of person.

However, when the opponent was a beautiful woman, furthermore a beautiful girl, it was a different story altogether.

Strong-minded and tsun beautiful girls were Ria's favorites, after all.

And so, that bad habit of teasing kids one liked, was in Ria.

"What? You're already finished?"

As for why Ria gave such a cheap provocation, it was so she could still hide her trump card. It was also Serge's advice.

As expected, even though Shizuna's face distorted, her mouth turned into a smile.

"No way, I wouldn't use my trump card so easily."

She held up her sword. She was obviously tempering her magical power.

Then, she spoke a word with power.

"Blaze!"

The red light of the sword strengthened, producing flames.

Serge's Identify had found the magic sword's name, it was called the [Blazing Snake Sword].

The flames produced caused the damage that opponents sustained from it to be hard to recover from. Moreover, being able to move like a snake, it was a strong magic sword.

However, that was it.

Ria had the Gift of Heat Resistance. Moreover, by frequently practicing fire magic on their journey, it had increased to level nine.

Even with Lulu's strongest fire magic, she wouldn't be burned at all. The strength of the gift went to that extent. A magic sword of fire would likely have no effect on Ria.

However, Ria's Gift didn't work on the leather armor and clothes she wore.

"Warp."

The whip of fire attacked Ria exactly like a snake. Meanwhile, Ria sheathed her katana for now.

She didn't want to risk the flame's heat damaging the katana.

The whip's tip approached Ria's body. She grabbed it out of the air bare-handed.

In addition to Heat Resistance, she had the Strong Body Skill. Speaking in a more specific status change, it gave her an extremely high stamina.

Though the portion of armor that covered her wrist heated up, it was manufactured with what she got in Shashmeer, produced from the skin of the Hydra. There would be no problems even if it were at the level of a Fireball.

Grabbing the whip, she pulled the blades in one by one. Each time the distance shortened, the color of shock and panic appeared on Shizuna's face.

(It's good, that expression.)

Ria was smiling.

The two were at a hand's reach away from each other. Shizuna tried to somehow take back her sword, but it was impossible against Ria's magical power.

"Well, what'll you do now?"

Ria asked in a crooning tone that felt as though she'd wanted to sing.

"Monster…"

Shizuna muttered in a hoarse voice.

"That's rude. You're just weak."

Those words inflamed the dwindling embers of Shizuna's fighting spirit yet again.

She directly hit Ria's body with her supple leg's kick.

Daringly, Ria took it head on and didn't evade.

It was no good no matter what she did, perfectly crushing her confidence. It went to the extent that Ria didn't appear injured in the least.

Being severe, then immediately after showing just a slight bit of tenderness, women would fall by her hand. That was Ria's rule of thumb in her previous life.

"If you're finished, it's my turn now."

Being kicked another time, Ria went on the offense for the first time.

It took just one hit.

Slipping into her bosom, she struck her opponent in the pit of the stomach. Shizuna's legs trembled.

Together with the sound of the ground being struck, Shizuna's body flew away. She fell into the crowd.

She had held back sufficiently, but it was necessary for her to give moderate damage. Adjusting it was difficult.

She'd used a martial art technique to not penetrate her armor.

When Ria approached, the spectators quickly moved away. Though Shizuna, who had just been knocked onto her back, was desperately trying to get up, it looked like she'd been given just enough damage, causing only her upper body to be able to sit up.

Since Ria walked towards her with a smile that looked like she was easily dealing with someone, she was obviously afraid.

However, a hindrance appeared.

"Would you please pardon her with that?"

Dividing the crowd, a huge man showed up.

He was tall. He was also a bulky man, swaying back and forth. His physique was similar to Gig.

But he had neither the fangs nor horns like an Ogre. He was completely human.

"O-old man…"

Shizuna groaned. Though they didn't resemble each other at all, this man seemed to be Shizuna's father. They definitely shared their red hair color.

"It's Vargas…"

"It's Vargas of the [Thunder]…"

The surrounding spectators began to clamor. It appeared he was considerably famous.

Not being distracted by the noise, Ria observed Vargas.

Despite his bulky figure, his footwork wasn't dull.

"Anee-cha~n. Be careful, that guy's strong."

Serge's carefree warning reached her. In other words, he was still weaker than Ria.

"Well, will the father follow the daughter and be my opponent?"

She tried a cheap provocation. Honestly, she still wanted to fight a bit.

But Vargas shook his head.

"There's no reason to fight something I know I would lose."

With those words, the crowd became noisy.

"Oi, Vargas said…"

"Thunder admitted defeat…"

"That's just… what's with that girl…"

It was anticlimactic, but he could clearly measure the ability difference between himself and Ria. He had combat intuition.

Regardless of whether it developed into killing each other, she wanted to fight him once.

"Then I guess our duel ends here? Well, how about a compromise?"

Ria looked at the magic sword in her hand. It was quite a performance. If it weren't Ria, it would've been hard to fight against. Carlos or Gig would have been defeated.

"For now, I'll keep this sword for a while. If you rely on it too much, your fundamental skills won't improve."

"Eeh!"

Shizuna screamed, but that was probably the natural response, seeing as how valuable the sword was. Vargas didn't respond, probably in consent.

"I'll give it back after you raise your Swordplay Skill. After that…"

Compromising, Ria took Shizuna's shoulders, standing her up. Like a newborn fawn, her legs trembled.

"W-what…"

Shizuna's frightened lips were blocked by other lips.

With the tip of her tongue, Ria experienced the girl's lips. It was just a moment of contact.

Letting go of her, she fell to the ground with a small plop. A different kind of cheer from those that had being going on rose up from the spectators.

"Yuri came!"

Serge shouted with a strength that seemed to cause a nosebleed.

"Wha-, wha-, wha-"

Shizuna opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. Seeing the expected reaction, Ria was pretty horny.

"Compared to being killed, that wasn't much."

Vargas had an extremely difficult expression on, but said nothing.

"You, you're interested in that!?"

Shizuna shouted with watery eyes. She understood her feelings. If a man snatched a kiss from Ria, she'd also want to cry.

But when she thought about that cute crying face, her sadism trumped her reason.

"I'm not interested in men. I prefer girls with a strong will like you. You can come at me whenever you want revenge, but when I win, we'll do something more amazing."

Ria smiled sadistically. Vargas made an even more intensely complicated face.

"Y-you idiot—! Stupid—! Die—!"

Basking in the infantile cries coming from Shizuna, Ria walked through the guild's doors.

"So cool…"

"Dreamy…"

Voices like that arose from the spectating women, though there were a small number of them.

"That Shizuna, so easily…"

"Such a ladykiller…"

"Yeah, a ladykiller…"

Voices of horror came from the men.

Ria the [Ladykiller].

In Jaeburg, that was the moment that gave Ria her nickname.