NOVEL WEB Chapter 22: Strange power
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“Seriously, it was a girl?”
Raid trembled with laughter.
“I guess it must be so since I can’t feel anything coming from him,but you, you’re different aren’t you. You have an amazing magical power, I can tell.”
“Toa” I called at her back.
“I’m fine, Masamune you stay back.” She didn’t turn around to look at me.
I conveyed that if it got dangerous I would intervene as Toa drew her sword and set herself.
“I see, there’s no chance. I can tell at a glance that’s a drilling technique.”
I, of course, had no idea as I knew nothing about swords.
“Raid please listen!” Sierra called. “They’re my friends. I met them on the way back to the capital! They’ve helped me so much!”
“Well then, I’m sorry to put you through the trouble.” Raid laughed through his nose.
Persuasion was meaningless.
“Now! Here I come!” He dashed toward Toa.
Toa set her sword and the sound from the swords crossing rang out across the open space.
Toa had parried the large scythe, a dexterous feat.
“This won’t do the trick I’m afraid, use the magic from before!”
Raid appeared irritated at Toa’s sword technique.
“[Fire Armor]”
Raids body became covered in fire. Sierra continued calling for him to stop but he acted as if he couldn’t hear her.
“Oops almost forgot.”
He concentrated on the blade of his scythe and it too was enveloped in flames. The scythe covered in flames was swung at Toa and she parried once again.
“Guh.”
It didn’t go like it had before, the moment the blades touched, fire leapt out scorching Toa’s arm.
“Toa!” I couldn’t help shouting.
“I’m OK.”
Why didn’t she use magic? She was being prompted to use it but all she said was ‘I’m OK.’
“The blunt sword won’t be able to stop my scythe.”
“Don’t know if you don’t try.”
Toa was breathing heavily. As I thought, it was painful. The fire made it impossible to parry completely, at this rate she was just a target for the scythe.
“Come on, quit fucking with me. There’s no way you killed it with just this sword! Use your magic!”
“This is my full power.” Toa wouldn’t use magic.
“Well, apparently you want to die.”
Raid moved toward Toa leaking killing intent.
“Toa!”
I had intended to leave it to her, but I can’t wait any longer. I bent forward but a stranger appeared before us at that time.
“What’s going on here?”
Raid’s movements stopped.
“Don’t get in my way.”
“Isn’t that my line?” The new guy said. “What are you doing here Raid?”
The stranger questioned Raid as he paused.
“Toa!” I rushed over to her. Once I had arrived I immediately used magic to heal her leaving no traces of the burn behind.
“Are you OK?”
“……. Yeah.”
“It’s good that there is no wound left but why didn’t you use magic?”
“My magic would damage the surroundings.”
“….” I was speechless.
There were houses surrounding the area that obviously had people living in them. She was worried that if she used her magic she would cause harm.
“I’m sorry….. I.” Sierra appeared upset.
“Don’t worry about it, you haven’t done anything wrong. I figured sooner or later something like this would happen.”
I remembered Shawn’s words advising me to hide my powers.
“Reinhardt it’s her! She killed the nootkerane!”
“And?”
“What do you mean ‘and’ ? I just said sheー”
“We haven’t decided if they were enemies yet or not. As it stands they were just fulfilling a monster extermination request.”
“If that’s the case then why did they run away? There was no reason to run was there? The answer is simple! They are guilty of something!”
“You’re just assuming things.”
“You just don’t understand!” Raid was frustrated. “Hey asshole! What the fuck are you a priest?”
“…….. Healer.”
“You’re…” His mouth fell open, and then he began to laugh uproariously. “You’re a healer? Hahaha I see! So that’s why I couldn’t feel anything from you! You’re a fuckin healer!”
This person reminded me of Saeki.
※
Raid laughed as he looked down at us appearing triumphant. However there was someone there who did not ignore Raid’s silliness.
“Can’t feel….anything?”
Reinhardt looked at the boy in front of him and his question was answered.
“What the hell? That should be…”
“Hey, you!”
Reinhardt spoke to Masamune but…
“Reinhardt! If you aren’t going to help stay there and shut up!”
Raid set the large scythe and rushed over.
“I’ll take care of both of them!”
With that he swung the blade at Masamune.
“Stop Raid that guy’s-!”
“If you don’t have the balls then just shut up!”
But the scythe never reached Masamune. What Reinhardt had been worried about happened in an instant. The whole are shook and a cloud of sand flew into the air. Someone stood in the center of the cloud. However viability was bad and there was no way to tell who it was.
As the sand cleared away and viability returned Reinhardt stood astonished. The entire space had now become a crater. Not to mention the center of said crater, because there sat Raid. Half buried in the ground and unconscious with the whites of his eyes showing.
“What… The….. Fuck?”
Reinhardt was at a loss for words. However, he understood. What happened, who did it, Reinhardt knew. Because as the cloud of sand cleared Masamune became visible as he stared down at Raid.
“So in other words, you are the one who actually killed the nootkerane.”
“Masamune!” That was Toa’s voice.
She should have been standing next to Masamune but somehow she was now on the edge of space the were in along with Sierra. Reinhardt could see that they were uninjured.
“You moved those two out of danger, and slammed Raid into the ground. All in an instant…”
Well, not exactly. All Masamune did was hit him, but it became clear that Reinhardt couldn’t see his movements.
“I see…”
Reinhardt’s hand naturally moved to the sword at his waist.
“In that case I better prepare for the worst. In the name of the Royal White Knights I will face you here.”
He pointed his sword at Masamune.
“Please wait! Reinhardt!”
Sierra rushed forward intervening.
“Please listen this is all a misunderstanding! Masamune-dono is my friend! He’s not an enemy! Please Reinhardt, lower your sword!”
Reinhardt knew this before the attempt to persuade him. With Sierra’s line of site centered directly on him, he began to doubt his actions. They were not enemies, Sierra’s words brought him back to a cool state of mind. Reinhardt stared at his sword, beyond which was Masamune.
“Well then, how do you explain this?” He pointed at the wide space they were standing in that had now sunken to become a crater.
However the reply seemed to convey agitation.
“That’s because Raid injured Toa-dono and Masamune-dono he, well.. He.”
In reality Reinhardt was quite clever, he had known all of this from the moment he arrived. However the abnormality of Masamune’s power had made him lose his composure.
This was all due to Raid’s arbitrary violence. He had probably wanted to know how his power measured up and confirm theirs. Thus, he had attacked. Telling himself that Reinhardt managed to stay calm.
“Sorry, I got a bit worked up.” He said, and to Sierra’s relief lowered his sword.
“Earlier, how did you know?”
“Raid said he didn’t feel anything from you, but that’s impossible. Everyone one, no matter who it is, possesses magical power. No matter how small the power may be you can still feel it. Although there is an exception.”
“An exception?”
“When the other’s magical power is far above your own.”
Reinhardt vaguely acknowledged Masamune’s power.
“If it’s just a small difference you can still feel it. In other words only a huge difference has this effect. Still, we’ve done something unforgivable, stopping him was my responsibility.”
“I’m not too worried about it.” The voice betrayed no emotion. “However we don’t want to stand out, we just want to be ordinary adventurers and collect our reward.”
“The reward will be paid at a later date, but I won’t say anything about this. However I must report to the kingdom, I will say that two adventurers were supporting Sierra and it was Sierra’s kill. Is that alright with everyone?”
“Yeah, that’s OK.”
“May I take Raid with me?” Reinhardt pointed to the man still half buried in the ground. “He’s still my subordinate.”
“Go ahead.”
Reinhardt threw Raid over his shoulder and remembering something turned back to Masamune.
“Your name was Masamune?”
“….” I was stunned by the way he suddenly spoke cordially to me.
“Well then Masamune, I’m sorry for the trouble we’ve caused, I hope we can meet again at a later date.” Reinhardt arbitrarily decided to use that name.
Leaving those words behind leaving me looking out over the square.
“Am I going to be billed for this?”
With a bitter laugh Sierra collapsed to the ground in relief.
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