Chapter 30: A rational way to fight, not a muscle-brained one

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Translator: Soafp

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It all happened in an instant.

Just when I thought Belchika's figure had disappeared, I was launched several hundred meters into the sky above the royal capital.

I was blasted into the air in an instant.

With the dull pain that arrived late at my side, I finally understood what had happened.

There was nothing complicated about it. She just punched me in the stomach with an insanely powerful force and sent me flying.

“Such amazing strength!!”

“Descendants of heroes are incredible!!”

Does being a hero's descendant really matter?

I feel like it's simply because Belchika's strength is absurd.

Not that this was the time to be thinking about that.

Belchika kicked down hard on the castle roof and closed the distance to me as I was thrown into the air.

Her step-in was so strong that part of the roof nearly caved in.

“Ey!! Uryaa!!”

Her cute-sounding battle cry didn't match her speed or power at all.

One hit from that would shatter bones.

The only saving grace was that Belchika wasn't trying to kill me and avoided targeting places like my skull, which would be fatal if crushed.

“I knew it, you heal right away, don't you?”

“Then could you let me go?”

Belchika flashed a fearless smile at my request.

“In other words, if I keep punching you until your magic runs out and you can't heal anymore, I win!!”

“…You're a muscle-brain.”

“I think someone who barely defends because they can heal any injury is also pretty extreme, you know?”

“I'm not a muscle-brain.”

My fighting style is just rational, definitely not muscle-headed.

But this is bad.

Belchika's physical ability is overwhelmingly superior, and at this rate my magic might run out first and I'll get caught.

Alright, I should reverse my thinking.

Belchika wants to capture me alive, so she can't kill me.

That means she can't aim for vital spots like the head where one hit would end everything.

So what happens if I move myself into the path of her sword?

“Wha!? What are you doing!?”

“I thought so. You have no choice but to pull your strikes when they might kill me.”

“E-ehh? Even if you came up with that, normally you wouldn't do it! If I failed to stop in time you could've died, you know!?”

“For you, that's not hard, right?”

“…Fufu, somehow it feels like you trust me. That makes me happy.”

Belchika giggled softly.

“But you know, I can be pretty unfair.”

“Hm?”

There was a sound of something slicing through the wind.

In the next moment, a crossbow bolt embedded itself in my arm.

Someone shot it. From very far away.

“That is…”

Looking down, I saw a girl standing on the roof of a house in the capital.

It was Lidiel.

Shooting and accurately hitting me from ground level while I'm several hundred meters up in the pitch-black night sky—what kind of skill is that?

Though this wasn't the time to be impressed.

“My hand's going numb…”

“They said that bolt is coated with a paralytic drug. Soon the effect will spread through your whole body and you won't be able to—”

“Hey!!”

I chopped off my own arm with a hand strike.

“…Huh!? Wait, what are you doing!?”

“I just cut it off before the paralysis spread. It's faster to heal it this way.”

“T-that's like a crab… Is that really okay?”

“With healing magic, the pain lasts only a moment. There's no problem.”

“E-eee, scary…”

I don't understand why she's scared.

Compared to endless internal pain and suffering, cutting off an arm that can be healed immediately is nothing.

“…But I understand now. Half-hearted attacks won't take you down. So next I'll use an attack that's not half-hearted at all. Please don't die!!”

“Wait—”

“Here I go!!”

Belchika swung her sword down again, still in its sheath.

This time she aimed straight for my head and clearly wasn't planning to hold back.

I guarded with both arms, avoiding fatal damage, but the sheer force of the blow slammed me into the ground.

“Guh—”

It seemed I had fallen right into the center of the plaza where injured and sick people had been gathered.

Belchika must have aimed for an empty spot—no one got hurt by the impact.

All eyes focused on me.

“Uwa!! W-what the!?”

“Hey, someone just fell from the sky!?”

“Oh, it's No-Face!!”

“Thanks for curing my wife's illness last month!! But stop kicking people's doors down when you visit!!”

“Yeah!! I thought you were a robber!! Stop breaking into houses to give treatment!!”

At that moment—

Pushing aside the shouting crowd, Christina appeared.

Ah, and behind her was the blindfolded maid I met at the magic tournament.

“I found you, No-Face!! Today I will definitely capture you, make you my husband, then do ‘beep (censored)' with you until morning and make you ‘beep (censored)'!! And if possible—mmph!”

“Princess Christina, please refrain from such extreme remarks in front of the citizens.”

“Mmggh!!”

The maid covered Christina's mouth.

At the same time, Belchika landed in front of me and readied her sword.

“Nngh, Belchika-sama!! Please do your best to capture No-Face!!”

“I know, Princess Christina.”

Just as I clenched my fist and faced Belchika again—

“Hm?”

“What's that sound…?”

“…The ground is shaking?”

A rumbling sound echoed.

I felt a bad premonition and shouted to the nearby crowd:

“Get away from here immediately!!”

Tilting their heads in confusion, the people nonetheless sensed the danger and fled.

Then, the next moment.

The ground between Belchika and me collapsed, and we fell deep underground.

Maybe the impact when I landed weakened the ground.

“Kya!?”

“Princess Christina, hold on to me.”

“M-Maidol!!”

“Ah… Princess Christina is clinging to my waist… how adorable. Fufufu.”

“M-Maidol? Why are you suddenly laughing?”

“It's nothing.”

As Christina and her maid's voices echoed above, Belchika and I plunged into the abyss.

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Afterword

One-point small talk

Author: “What's ‘breaking-in treatment' supposed to mean?”

A: “It's when he breaks into someone's house and treats any sick or injured people inside. By the way, he leaves money to pay for the door he destroys, so it's not a problem.”