36.At the banquet

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

(While Iris and the other women were in the bath, the men still remaining at the banquet recalled the time of the Goblin General’s battle after Iris lost consciousness.)

Saul

After seeing Iris and the other women off to their accommodations, Reiji and I made our way through the banquet to the person we were looking for… Walter-san.

“…You want me to train you?”

“Yeah, you’re way stronger than us both. We realized that we still have much to learn… so we want to study your fighting skills.”

Reiji and I then bowed our heads.

“I’m telling you, you boys are not at fault for the last battle, no one could have imagined that they would have prepared something like that, and as commander, I should take responsibility for this blunder. In fact, I even have to thank you for holding out so well, so don’t worry about it…”

“I agree, but… I don’t want to have regrets when something happens, and I wonder if I could have done more. I want to do the best I can, that’s why…”

We needed to gain more combat experience.

The enemy we struggled so much against, the Goblin General, was only the very first raid boss before the initial level cap was lifted. We had to be ready for whatever came up next…

(Flashbacks)

“Release…!!”

Immediately after Iris’ top-level area-of-effect recovery magic finished, I slashed at the giant body in front of me with a circle of light floating above my head.

When her little body was engulfed in the flames of the explosion, it sent chills down my spine… but it seemed the man from this morning shielded her with his own body, getting grievously wounded in the process. I couldn’t thank him enough for that, but the fact that Iris left him lying there and sent her magic to us meant that she probably had no magic power left. Otherwise, there was no way that the gentle Iris… the gentle “Onii-chan” would have left such a person alone.

I wondered how much heartache she’s going through. Iris was at her physical and mental limit, we couldn’t let this go on any longer. We must end this fight, here and now.

The Goblin General’s reaction was sluggish. It is understandable to be bewildered by the fact that its opponent, who had been dead until a few minutes ago, had healed completely and attacked it again. Now that I had unleashed my racial traits, I should have an easier time from now on.

“Cheryaaah!!”

With a roar, I saw the ridiculous sight of a sword of overwhelming mass being bounced off my short, flimsy blade.  A fist filled with lightning far more powerful than ever before pierced its empty torso, exploding with a violent sound and scattering light everywhere. 

“Lightning Edge!!”

As I activated a new technique while the enemy was out of position, the blade of the sword I was carrying was enveloped in a wide, translucent purple edge, increasing in size. The sword, imbued with purple lightning, was then thrust into the Goblin General’s body, still reeling from the impact of my fist strike.

This was a new technique I had just come up with. During the effect, even with my current ability, my ordinary sword was as sharp as a high level powerful magic sword.

It managed to block my sword with its left arm, which was as strong as a very thick rope made of steel wire, but it didn’t matter, as I plunged the sword in with all my might, gradually breaking on through.

As the smell of burning flesh filled the air, the sword’s blade finally dove into the General’s body, and the purple lightning imbued in the sword collapsed, exploding the stored energy into a single point at the sword’s tip, gushing inside its body and immolate him. The General let out a deafening roar, probably from the pain, but we weren’t done with it yet.

“Swap with me, Saul!”

Reiji, who had also unleased his racial traits, jumped in while the enemy was still stunned, and cleaved his sword into the arm I had just injured.

“First, we blow off one of its arms!!”

With a frenzied smile, Reiji released the fighting spirit within his sword, overloading the scar on the General’s arm with a blue glow and making it explode.

“Take that, you giant freak!!”

The arm that had hardly been harmed before was shredded in the middle and blown off. The Goblin General finally cried out in anguish as it swung the weapon in its hand around wildly.

“Archers, open fire!!”

Right after Philias-san’s instructions coming from behind, we jumped out of the way as a hail of arrows rained down on the General. Most of them were bounced off its skin, but a few of them stuck into its body. The inside of those arrows seemed to be hollow, and blood was flowing freely from a hole in the arrow head, forcing bleeding… That’s nasty.

The mercenaries then drew their swords, and we moved in for the kill. The left half of the General’s body, which had lost one arm, had a large gap, giving us a much greater opportunity to attack.

We’d done it… that was what I thought.

Soon, the unthinkable happened.

“UUUUUAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!”

Iris’s blood-curdling wail, a wail too feeble to be an exclamation.

At the edge of my vision, a faint, much weaker-than-usual light of “Heal” flashed… Impossible, she must have already reached her limits!

When I turned my eyes toward her, I saw the severely injured man from earlier surrounded by a pale light, and Iris’ body crumpled up, looking completely drained of power. It is clear that she used healing magic beyond her limits, and I did not know and could not imagine what would happen if she squeezed all her magical power in this world.

“IRIS!! Curses, get out of my way!!”

Even if I tried to run to her, there was a strong enemy in front of me. I could not carelessly turn my back on it. I began to feel impatient, and while I was distracted, a sword like a guillotine blade was approaching from overhead… Dodging seemed to be of no use, so could I take the hit? I readied my shield to somehow block the attack.

“That’s as far as you go, monster!”

Someone rushed at a tremendous speed and leaped in front of me in an instant… Zeltis, was it his name? With his twin swords, he flicked the giant blade away, diverting its trajectory… Apparently, the perimeter has been cleared, although much sooner than expected.

“…Sorry, I was a little distracted. You saved me.”

“No problem. Please go back to the Princess… your sister, and take your friend and Philias with you.”

“B-But we can’t leave you alone here…”

“He’s right, brother!”

No matter how I looked at it, even if Reiji and I, along with the mercenaries, finally managed to keep the enemy in check, it still seemed reckless of him to fight it alone without the rest of the main combat force, and Miss Philias half-screamed at him for it.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

He brushed aside our objections, smiled, and told us without hesitation.

“…Look, the most dependable person has arrived.”

What happened next was… honestly, even my eyes couldn’t follow.

The next moment, I thought I saw a black shadow jump into the fray, and then a black and red storm swept over, and it, the Goblin General, screamed in agony as its back was ripped to shreds, that’s all I could make sense of it.

“…Hello there, I apologize for being late. I’ll assume command from this point on.”

Like a storm… Captain Walter was standing there with his back to us, sheltering us before we knew it. Although he was speaking aloofly like usual, the density of the fighting spirit he wore sent shivers down my spine. And the battle axe in his hand.

“Arsley… It can’t be!”

I felt the same way when I heard Reiji muttering in dismay. He was equipped with an axe of ominous red light, and looked just like the one Reiji used, except for the shape.

“Hmm, you know about this thing, boy? But you got its name a little wrong… it’s called ‘Ars Nova’. It’s been a while since I’ve used it, but I assure you it’ll be done in a jiffy. How about you check on the young lady for me?”

“Y-Yes, I appreciate your help. Let’s go, Reiji.”

“O-Okay.”

Reiji, who was better equipped and stronger on his feet, ran one step ahead and hurries to Iris, who was lying on the ground. Behind us, the sounds of battle resumed, more intense than ever.

Strangely… I couldn’t imagine that person losing in the slightest.

“Is she still breathing?”

Reiji was one step ahead, reaching and holding Iris up. Miss Philias was generously dropping potions on another man who had severe burns all over his body.

Iris looked so limp and weak in Reiji’s arms that I had a bad feeling about her. Her small body breathed a little with a hiccup… No, that’s not breathing at all!

“Move aside, Reiji! She’s not breathing at all!”

“Huh?! So what’s she doing?!”

Agonal respiration. This is just the sudden stop of the heart, causing the muscles to spasm and making her appear to be breathing.

I took Iris’ body from Reiji’s arms and laid her on her back on the hard ground… As I feared, I couldn’t see her chest rise and fall, nor could I feel her breathing when I hold my hand over her mouth. It’s a race against time!

“Reiji, perform CPR!”

“R-Right, leave it to me!”

Immediately, Reiji began to perform cardiac massage. As a martial arts practitioner, he must have had much more repetitive practice in this kind of action than the rest of us, so it is better to leave it to him than to do it myself. I had more important things to do right now.

Lightning formed between my hands. As “Saul”, I was specialized in the lightning attribute. Although it was only used in offensive techniques, I seemed to have no problem generating electric shocks in this way, and it’s possible to fine-tune it if I wanted to.

What I was attempting now is to recreate the AED of the other world. But what about voltage? What about current? How much force could I use to stop only the heart spasm without damaging the cells? What would have been automatically diagnosed and determined by a machine must now be grasped only by my intuition and senses.

Fortunately, I had taken several courses in its use. And I happened to remember in a corner of my memory the information that the doctor told me when “Onii-chan” was in the hospital. Never thought something I learnt for fun as a child could become a life-saver here.

Remember it!

“Philias-san, is it? Please block the others from looking! You too, Reiji!”

“Me? Ah, I’ll do it!”

“You’ve got this!”

While shouting in rapid succession, Philias-san took off her own cloak and used it as a curtain to block the view, and Reiji quickly did the same. After confirming that no one was looking, I flashed my sword and cut through Iris’ jacket, being careful not to scratch her skin.

I grabbed her blouse, ripped off the buttons, and tore off her underwear to expose the front of her chest. Her heart-stopped body was eerily pale, but her body temperature was still slightly warm. I put my hand under her right collarbone and left armpit.

It’d be alright.

I could do it. I’d be alright.

With great care, fine-tune and gather the magic in both palms. I couldn’t afford to screw up here. Continue to adjust carefully and cautiously… Here I go!

“Please, come back to me!”

I applied the shock, and Iris’ slender body jolted wildly. I then immediately resumed the cardiac massage… I could only pray that I’m successful.

Iris, please open your eyes, I beg you.

Single-mindedly continue the CPR. After doing so for a while…

“…Ack?!”

Her lungs shook a little under my hands, and Iris coughed weakly… I could also feel the resumption of the heartbeat, albeit weak, under my palms.

“Did we do it…?”

“Looks like it. She’s breathing again.”

The two of them sighed deeply.

I sprinkled a potion on her skin, which was slightly burned by the electric shock, and laid her on her side, still crying and coughing, so that she could breathe easily.

When I finally turned to the battlefield, the sounds of battle had stopped before I knew it. The huge body of the Goblin General was cut in half by Walter-san and sank to the ground with a resounding crash.

…Such overwhelming power.

Reiji said he didn’t know if he could win when I asked him this morning, but now I had to correct that statement… As of now, both of us combined didn’t stand a chance against that person.

There was no scratch on his body. It might be a difference in weapons, but that’s not the only reason. I’m sure that the skills and knowledge he had accumulated up to now were much more than ours…

Right. I finally remembered. That person was in fact…

(End of flashback)

Still aloof as ever, he was looking at us somewhat appraisingly, and I hit him with the question I felt before.

“…Warlord Walter. You, together with Sorcerer King Aureolus, are the great warriors who successfully subjugated the ‘Death Serpent’… am I correct?”

In the game, the calamity that struck the northern continent was described as a past event during the reign of the previous king. A natural disaster that suddenly appeared from the “Wound of the World” and burned down several cities in the blink of an eye. It was he, the mercenary king, who was side by side with the previous king in leading the subjugation against it. He was a living, breathing legend, whose name I had seen several times at events during the game. It’s hard to believe, but that’s probably who this aloof old man really was.

“Well, well, well, it seems that his letter has some credibility after all…”

“…Excuse me?”

“Don’t mind what I just said. And for the love of god, don’t address me like some great hero and such, it makes me cringe. I’m just the leader of a freewheeling mercenary company, a fool who knows no other way of life, nothing more, nothing less.”

He rejected me with an indescribable look of disgust, as if he really wanted me to give him a break, and then continued his story with a somber look on his face.

“…The ‘Death Serpent’ was in no way subjugated. He’d only suffered a temporary setback. We’d paid a lot of blood so that we could injure him enough to make him retreat. Thanks to that, the company I had worked so hard to build was destroyed, and most of the people who remained scattered… It wasn’t until now that I got back into shape… and well, here we are.”

So that explained the “Coffin” name. In this kind of business, you never know when or where you will lose your life, and he understood that better than anyone else, so only those who were ready to lie in a coffin should sign up for his company. He had an alias like “Mercenary King” because he had probably seen more of his friends off than anyone else.

“Well, we should stop pursuing this topic, lest it dampens the mood… It would be presumptuous of me to train someone as capable as you, but I would be happy to be your training partner. However…”

He placed a mug of ale in front of himself and Reiji.

“Show me your resolve. Let me see you have what it takes.”

“Oh? I don’t really get it, but if it’s a drinking contest, I’ve never lost in college, so get ready for it, old man!”

Reiji happily accepted the challenge.

Come to think of it, Reiji, who was athletic at heart, loved this kind of competition…

“Hey, that guy’s got guts, entering a drinking contest with the Captain…”

“His ass’s gonna get kicked.”

The surrounding mercenaries became excited… stupid Reiji, you got too carried away.

Moreover, no one expected Reiji to win. There was no mean color on the face of his opponent, Walter-san. Perhaps this was just an excuse for him to fool around. When I shrugged my shoulders with a disappointed look, he noticed me and smiled broadly.

Good grief, why are men all like this. Do whatever you want, I don’t care if you see hell tomorrow.

I decided to stay out of this mess and began sipping my own light fruit wine at my own pace.