NOVEL WEB chapter 55
Chapter 55
“Who cares about Nabal & Hasan! We still have Axel!”
“That’s right! We’ve got Tele, one of the three heroes! We won’t let NPCs take the championship!”
The customers, who had been in a state of mourning just moments ago, seemed to be getting fired up again. The atmosphere was becoming lively once more.
I’m relieved. Whether it was due to their dampened spirits or not, I had to use [Cure Light] on two people. I’m grateful they’ve managed to lift their spirits.
Besides, I wouldn’t want to watch the next match in such a gloomy mood…
“Ready to order?”
“Yes, coming right up!”
So, while taking orders, I’ll also keep an eye on the second match.
“Tatsu is up.”
I exchange words with Misaki, who’s still only taking orders for the meat-based Set A.
“Yeah, I hope they win.”
“For old times’ sake. I’ll cheer for them.”
As I receive the prepared dishes from Mungaga and deliver them to the tables, I see the Tatsu-Lily duo and their opponents… a dragon and a mysterious monster wearing an apple costume, making their way to the center of the arena.
The apple person is saying something.
Let’s see, “Everyone, let’s eat apples!”…
Huh? What’s that about?
“Oh, Apple Star is out.”
Apple Star…?
Oh, is that what Apple☆ means?
No, I don’t get it! What’s that about!
“They’re doing that apple promotion thing again.”
“What was it? Trying to steal the number one spot among major fruits or something?”
“What the heck is ‘number one major fruit’?”
“According to Apple Star, the most major fruit is the orange.”
“Why?”
“They say it’s because family restaurants have orange juice in their drink bars, but not apple juice.”
“That’s just because of the drink dispenser manufacturer’s preferences…”
Yeah, I think so too.
But what a distinctive character, huh?
Even now, they’re saying things like, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away! It’s good for your health! Everyone, let’s eat an apple every day! It’s good for your children’s health too!”
I wonder if that kid is one of the so-called three heroes of the monster races?
“No way, Tele is in stitches…”
“Tele is one of the three heroes, so I wish they’d be a bit more composed…”
“It’s no use, that person’s a laugher.”
“People often team up with Apple Star just to see that routine.”
“Oh, there it is. The signature pose ‘Heeey! Applya!'”
“Cut it out, you’re making the Demon King uncomfortable.”
“Tele seems to be having a blast though.”
The apple person is striking some weird pose on top of the arena. Is that their signature move?
In contrast, Lily is just waiting with her arms crossed.
Yeah. I can tell she’s really struggling to react.
No, that crossed-arm pose might be…
“Excu—”
“Ah, you want a refill of the detox tea. I’ll bring it right away!”
“Oh, yes. Thank you…”
As I was efficiently handling tasks, the second match finally began.
Right at the start, Tele (?) the dragon charges straight at Lily, but… Wait, considering the size difference with Lily, isn’t Tele about three meters tall?
If you think of it as a compact car rushing at you at high speed, it’s terrifying, but Lily doesn’t flinch. She glides smoothly to dodge the charge. Way to go!
Then, perhaps as a feint, Tatsu’s [Fire Strike] hits Tele, but Tele charges on, seemingly unfazed.
High magic defense?
Or maybe high HP?
In any case, my impression is that Tele is tough.
Tatsu keeps hitting Tele with [Fire Magic], but apples keep flying from behind Tele, enveloping Tele in a blue light.
Wait, what’s that!?
“There it is, [Apple Magic]!”
“Everything from healing to bombs is apple-shaped, so it’s hard to tell what’s what!”
It seems Apple is a practitioner of an original school, just like me.
I quickly pulled up the list of acquired skills, and sure enough, there was something called [Apple Magic] listed.
I’m a bit curious about what kind of magic it is, but I don’t really want to acquire it…
I quietly close the list of acquired skills.
Yeah. Let’s try not to think about it.
“Come on, Tele’s pushing them back!”
“Tele’s entered their winning pattern!”
It seems Tele’s team’s strategy is to combine Tele’s high defense with recovery, and then engage in close combat with that massive body to overpower their opponents.
On the other hand, Lily and Tatsu are…
“Hey, isn’t something off?”
“The Demon King hasn’t attacked even once yet…”
“I bet they’re up to something again.”
“Hey, you guys, cheer for Tele!”
“Shut up! We’re Team Demon King Lily!”
As I mediate what looks like it might turn into a brawl, suggesting we all watch in good spirits, I turn my gaze to the float screen.
Yeah. It’s not that she’s not attacking, but that she can’t. That’s the correct answer.
Right now, though it looks like she’s just standing with her arms crossed, she’s actually channeling magic power into her arms. She can’t move to attack until it’s fully charged.
But that’s about to end—
With a sound loud enough to hear—Basa!—something like a cloak dramatically unfurls behind Lily.
And with that, part of it rises up significantly, docking onto Lily’s shoulders as two massive cannons.
For this moment only, she loses her propulsion system, greatly reducing her mobility… But in exchange, all the mobility that allowed her to move freely is now converted into attack power. The accumulated magic power can now be amplified and fired simultaneously from these two cannons!
This is the ultimate weapon boasting the greatest firepower among CogTwo’s armaments—the Twin Thruster Cannon!
Alright, go for it! Lily!
Da—!
—Dubiii!
In an instant, the screen is dyed pure white, and the impact violently shakes the view.
A blast of wind suddenly rages, and cutting through that wind, Lily, having just fired the Twin Thruster Cannon, is blown backward.
Yeah.
As expected, the recoil is intense due to the overwhelming power.
But for a weapon of that caliber, its destructive power is guaranteed!
By the time the screen stabilizes, half of the arena has been pulverized and vanished.
The customers eating poison dishes are left gaping at the excessive spectacle.
Well, to explain briefly, the Twin Thruster Cannon fires two ultra-thick beams by simultaneously amplifying the accumulated magic power and the magic power used for the propulsion system…
Combined with Lily’s [Sure Hit], it became an unavoidable ultra-thick beam that mowed down the two opponents, I guess?
There might be some synergistic effects I haven’t calculated, but well, no matter how high their defense is, I don’t think they could withstand that. …Probably.
“The winners are… Tatsu & Lily!”
Along with the announcer’s voice, it seems thunderous cheers are erupting from the arena.
I can tell because the float screen is shaking slightly in sync with the cheers.
I thought the mood might dampen after such an overwhelming victory like Nabal & Hasan’s, but maybe it’s because the finish was so flashy?
Surprisingly, many people seem to be happy.
Of course, that includes the customers eating at Umi no Mozukutei.
“Did you see that?”
“Yeah, it was a Gerobi!”
“So, does that make it a Demon King Gerobi…?”
“Ah! It’s the Demon King Gerobi!”
No, it’s not! It’s the Twin Thruster Cannon!
Ah, the frustration of not being able to correct them even if I wanted to use the official name!
And the sadness of seeing it spread as the so-called “Demon King”…
With nothing else to do, I distract myself from the sadness by fully committing to my job as a waiter.
Ugh, sorry, Lily.
The Twin Thruster Cannon might be hard to use for a while…
■□■
As lunchtime was coming to an end, the third match was finally about to begin.
Well, about half of the vast arena was destroyed by the Twin Thruster Cannon, you know.
It’s no wonder the restoration work took so much time.
When I sent Tatsu a “Congrats on making it to the semi-finals!” message between serving dishes, I got back a disappointing reply: “We’re getting scolded hard by the NPCs for destroying the venue…”
Yeah, it seems like it was quite tough.
Over here, things are finally starting to calm down.
Once Set A and Set B sold out and only Set C was left, the flow of customers settled down…
Like that Apple person earlier, I kind of want to tell them to eat more vegetables.
But thanks to that, we’re able to work at a more relaxed pace over here, which is helpful.
“God, it’s Iko and Gobzou’s match.”
“I think Iko’s team will probably win, but…”
“Is something bothering you?”
Bre, who brought back the dishes from finished meals, asks me, so I nod.
“Their opponents, Leon? and Maris? I feel like I’ve seen these two somewhere before…”
Leon is a textbook example of a handsome young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He has an air of refinement about him that wouldn’t be out of place if someone said he was nobility.
Yeah, it’s refreshing to see after being around zombie Bure, scary-faced Mungaga, and naked loincloth-wearing Tsuna all the time.
…Come to think of it, there are too many weirdos around me!
I’d like to believe that birds of a feather don’t flock together, but…
On the other hand, Maris is a boyish-looking pretty girl. Her black hair cut around her jaw and determined black eyes give off a somewhat competitive impression.
Hmm. I really feel like I’ve seen these two somewhere before, but where was it?
“The blonde one.”
“Yeah?”
“I think he was on a package.”
“Ah! That’s right! He’s the guy from the package!”
Misaki’s words jogged my memory.
He looks exactly like the character depicted on LIA’s product package or main illustration.
But what about the girl?
I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere too, but… where was it?