Side Story: The Pavera Heavy Knight's Perspective (2)

I'd probably end up the leader… after all, they're two, and we're three.

There was a time when I believed that too.

"Everyone, thank you in advance for today! Let's give it everything we've got and catch them off guard — ei, ei… oh!"

"U-uh, um, th-the Hero Wataru-sama?! You're Hero Wataru-sama, aren't you?!"

"Yes, that's me."

Wataru, Hero of the Empire and one of its mightiest. A man with no shortage of celebrated feats attesting to his strength.

That he'd cut down a thousand men in the war against the Demonlands, that he'd brought down an ancient golem so vast it blotted out the sky, that he'd finished off a vicious eight-headed hydra in a single blow…

"Wh-why is Wataru-sama in a place like this?"

"Ah. It happens that orders came down for me to serve under Kehma-san — I'm to become a general of the Golen Army. In other words, from here on we're colleagues. Pleased to be working with you."

"Y-yessir."

"Wait, the real deal?"

"Eh, Wataru-sama's a general?!"

… Orders? Hero Wataru, out in a frontier backwater like this? Whatever for?

"So, I'll be acting as leader and drawing up our strategy… That said, I've never once managed to beat Kehma-san."

"Eh?"

"There's something scheduled afterward today, so the maximum match time is thirty minutes. We're aiming for a draw by running out the clock."

That Hero Wataru, aiming for a draw??? Never won???

"I've been handed a win in a match once, but in my own mind that counts as a loss. In the end, not a single one of my attacks got through to him."

"Wataru-sama's attacks… don't get through?"

"Right. After I attacked with everything I had, do you know what Kehma-san said? 'Sorry, I was lost in thought.' It probably won't get through today either. Hahaha, it's laughable, isn't it."

Not laughable in the slightest. That meant none of our attacks would get through either.

… I see. Both "five against one" and "anyone weaker than the hero Wataru isn't worth counting" had been statements backed by ample, genuine strength.

"Listen up, everyone! Kehma-san looks full of openings, but no attack works on him at all! Let's just keep dodging the magic and aim for a draw by running out the clock!"

"Hey, Wataru? Why are you giving advice on that side?"

A lanky, black-haired man had wandered over to us.

… This fellow, calling Wataru-sama by name with no honorific…!

"You're going to be our general, so shouldn't you be on this side?"

"I got proper permission from Rokuko-san! So, let me test my skills against Kehma-san too!"

With that, Wataru-sama bowed his head.

It was all so natural, as though he were well used to bowing. That Hero Wataru…!

A man on very close terms with Wataru-sama, and clearly his superior in standing.

And just now he'd said "our general." Which meant… this man was the Dragon Tamer, Margrave Kehma Golen…?!

…

He doesn't look all that strong, though…?

"… Uwah, yikes."

"Hm? Witch, what's the matter?"

"I tried mana-sight on him and I can't make out his ceiling at all. This is the kind of level where, if you're no good at it, you wouldn't even notice you can't see his ceiling — you'd come full circle and just feel like you can't read his mana at all, y'know."

By way of comparison, apparently it's like how the sheer size of a mountain is hard to grasp when you're standing right on it.

So I, who truly hadn't seen him as the least bit strong, had already fallen right into that trap. The battle had already begun — was that it.

"Nah, that's just you not bein' able to see it."

"Th-then I'll just punch my way through and break out — no problem!"

"Can you really break out, though…?"

And then, right after, the match began.

… Wataru-sama had his lover cast a good-luck charm of victory on him, but, i-it's not as if I'm envious or anything!

"—Judgment Ray."

Right off the opening move, a ruler-tier spell came flying at us with its chant skipped entirely?!

And this was before we'd even stacked our enhancement buffs!!

"Nnuughhh!!!!"

As the heavy knight, I stepped out in front. And I took it on my shield, infused with mana. Taking it… I can't hold it baaack?! No — with grit, it's grit, it's gri-i-i-it!!!

Somehow, I recovered my footing.

"Oh, you're tough. More, then. Judgment Ray."

"Q-quick, the enhancements — nguboooh?!"

"■■■, ■■■, [Barrier], ■■■, ■■■, [Barrier], ■■■, ■■■, [Barrier]!"

Beyond the front where I'd braced my shield, beams slipped past to my left and right and gouged into my flanks. Two, no, four, no, eight…?! H-hey, hey, hey?! These are punching clean through my armor?! Is the barrier not working?! This is my family heirloom, a full suit of black steel armor!

"M-my family's heirloom black steel armor is — aaah?!"

"Ahh… If a new one will do, I'll compensate you later. Sink."

"I won't let you!!"

Hero Wataru-sama drew his holy sword and struck down the eight beams. How he managed it with a single sword, I couldn't tell, but they bent with a sharp twist and buried themselves in the ground.

"Keep the spectator stands at your back — that way he won't be able to fire in a straight line!!"

"Hey, Wataru. That's cheap for a hero, that is."

"It's something I learned from Kehma-san! You have to make use of your surroundings! Bunched together, you make an easy target — scatter so he can't take aim!!"

"I see. Well, I've been told to wrap this up in a minute, so let's finish it quickly…[Sleep], Rock Rain."

"What of it — I've got status-ailment resistance gear, so — zzzz."

Wataru-sama's posture buckled with a jolt — and then he dug in his heels.

"Nngh! I-I'm fine, though for some reason I nearly dropped off for a second there! No way, surely Nerune-san couldn't… No, no, let me pull myself together and — gah?!"

"W-Wataru-samaaaaa?!"

"[Pitfall], [Stone Pile], Judgment Ray, Mega Sleep, Judgment Ray."

With a thunk, a fist-sized stone slammed straight into Wataru-sama's head. And then he dropped into the hole that had opened up in the ground. A clean sinking shot. On top of that, a stone stake plugged the hole shut — just like a worm's mouth snapping closed after swallowing him whole.

"S-scatter! Scatterrr!!!"

In the next instant, a storm of beams came bearing down on us without mercy.

Kehma Golen drew the sword at his hip and slowly leveled it at us. And then.

"Judgment Ray, Judgment Ray, [Ice Bolt], Judgment Ray, Thunderstorm."

"Gyaaah!!"

"Uwaaaah?! I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm gonna diiie?!"

"■■■, ■■■, [Mana Wall]!! … Hiiih?!"

It wasn't just beams. A storm of lightning rained down over the whole arena.

We'd scattered so he couldn't take aim, but all that had done was spread the attack across the entire field — and the density was even greater than before. It was then I understood that those eight beams earlier had still been him holding back.

Something was off. A single chant's worth was triggering the effect five times over.

Far too one-sided a massacre. Wataru-sama had been dropped into a pitfall and put out of commission; before I could even think of what to do, all I could do was raise my shield. I took the beams head-on and let the lightning run through the shield and into the ground—

"Judgment Ray, Judgment Ray, Judgment Ray, [Pitfall]."

"Fugah?!"

A hole opened up right beneath my braced feet. A floating sensation. A beam, angled downward, passed clean over my head. I fell to the bottom of the hole and landed on my backside. My battered armor broke apart, clattering loose and dropping to the bottom of the hole.

"Gh, ow, ow… H-hey, is everyone all right?!"

No answer.

When I looked up, the hole had been capped with a stone stake… Sealed in… what, what an utterly absurd thing to — nn, I'm… s-sleepy…?!

"Right, then. I've dropped every last one of them into holes and sealed them in. I'll take that as a win, yeah? That's fine, right? Within the minute, yeah?"

"W-winner, Kehma Golen!!"

"… Well, it's a bit of a shame these guys got no chance to show anything, and there's still time on the clock. Next, how about I have Wataru spar with me. Hey, Wataru, time to wake up."

Zzz…