Chapter 19 – The Evil Dragon Makes Her Son Stronger (Via Remote Control)【Part 2】

Because of the automatic interception system his mother developed, Ryuuji couldn’t defeat enemies, and his level wasn’t rising.

To solve that problem, his mother took action.

I just hope this doesn’t turn into another disaster…

The next day.

When Ryuuji woke up, breakfast was already laid out on the dining table.

“Here you go! Eat up!”

Karma said with a beaming smile.

“…You didn’t use any weird ingredients, did you?”

In the past, his mother had made a dish that made you stronger when you ate it.

“Of course not. It’s just a normal meal. I swear on Ryu-kun, I’m not lying.”

“Isn’t that where you’d normally say ‘I swear to God’ or something?”

“? Isn’t it the same thing?”

It seems the equation Son = God is perfectly normal inside my mother’s head.

A shuddering Ryuuji ate the meal with Sheila.

Eating it only filled his stomach; there was no sense of a mysterious power welling up like before.

It seemed to be a normal meal.

“Nom, nom, munch, munch. Haaaah… Karma-san’s cooking is the best today, too!…”

Sheila ate every last bit of food on the table.

Despite her petite appearance, she was quite the hearty eater.

“Of course. As if I’d let my angel Ryu-kun eat anything bad. Would you like a refill, Sheila?”

“Yes, please!”

Karma didn’t seem at all displeased to have her cooking praised by Sheila.

After finishing their meal, Ryuuji and his party set out on their adventure.

“We’re on a subjugation quest today… Mom, no light beams, okay?”

Ryuuji had given his mother a firm warning the night before.

“I understand.”

“You didn’t enhance my weapon, did you?”

“I did not.”

“And no going ahead and immobilizing the monsters, either.”

“I am well aware.”

…Something like this had happened before, so Ryuuji didn’t trust his mother’s words one bit.

“Ryu-kun. Please trust your Mother a little.”

His mother looked straight at him.

There seemed to be nothing guilty in her eyes.

“…Alright. We’re heading out.”

“Yes, take care. Be safe.”

If you just took that one moment in isolation, she’d seem like a normal mother.

His mother smiled, waving her hand enthusiastically.

She didn’t seem to have any anxiety about her son going on an adventure.

If an ordinary mother did that, he wouldn’t think anything of it.

The problem was, his mother was anything but ordinary.

Would that absurdly overprotective mother of his really send her son off on an adventure without making any preparations…?

Frankly, the answer was no.

“She’s definitely up to something again…”

It had gotten to the point where Ryuuji was more anxious when his mother wasn’t causing some kind of trouble.

That aside.

Ryuuji’s party had arrived at a nearby forest.

“Today’s target is a Wild Boar.”

“We’re taking down a boar! Let’s do our best, Ryuuji-kun!”

A Wild Boar is a boar-type monster that lives in the forest.

The lady at the reception desk had said it might be a little tough for the two of them.

Apparently, it was just strong enough that they could barely win at their current level.

“Let’s work together and do our best.”

“Right!”

The party advanced into the forest.

After a short while, deep in the woods, they discovered a boar that was a size larger than normal.

“That’s it! I’ll be the decoy, Sheila, you get your magic ready.”

“Roger that!”

Sheila focused her mind to cast her spell.

“Alright!”

Ryuuji crouched and moved through the bushes.

He circled around, closing in on the boar.

And then… Ryuuji burst from the bushes!

“Huh…?!”

Ryuuji let out a bewildered cry.

Before he could even register his surprise, his body shot toward the boar at super speed.

“R-Ryuuji-kun?”

While Sheila watched in shock, Ryuuji drew the sword at his hip.

He leaped forward like an acrobat and launched into a vertical spinning slash.

Sssshhlick!

He sliced into the boar’s back as if with a circular saw.

“Wh-what?! My body’s moving on its own!”

After landing, Ryuuji shot forward again with a boing!

He lopped off the boar’s limbs with the speed of light.

With the boar immobilized, Ryuuji thrust his sword into its heart. Stab!

…The entire exchange took less than five seconds.

Finally, Ryuuji regained control of his body and collapsed on the spot.

“Amazing, amazing, amaaaazing!”

Sheila emerged from her hiding spot and approached Ryuuji with a smile.

“That was so cool! You went like, whoosh whoosh! You moved like a master swordsman!”

She looked at him with eyes full of awe.

“When did you get so strong?”

“No… I didn’t do any of that.”

Huh? Sheila tilted her head.

“I mean… my body… it just started moving on its own…”

And just then.

“GRAOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!”

A Wild Bear emerged from the shadow of the thicket.

It was a large bear monster.

It was far stronger than the Wild Boar; at their current level, Ryuuji and Sheila were completely outmatched.

I’m dead… Ryuuji closed his eyes, but—

Whooshwhooshwhooshwhooshwhooshwhoosh!!!

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…………”

Thump…

The sound of something heavy collapsing.

He opened his eyes, wondering what had happened… and saw the minced corpse of the bear.

“A-amaaaaazzzing!!!”

Sheila jumped up and down on the spot.

“Ryuuji-kun, you’re a genius! You went, like, slash, shing, shing and diced that bear to bits from every direction!”

Sheila was ecstatic.

But… Ryuuji had no memory of dicing it up like that.

To be precise, he had no memory of moving his body of his own free will.

But Sheila said that he had defeated the enemy.

…This could only be.

“Mom!”

“At your service the moment you call.”

His mother appeared with a pop of teleportation.

She must have been watching again.

“You did something to me, didn’t you?!”

“Yes, I did.”

His mother puffed out her chest proudly.

“Ah, but it’s not like I enhanced Ryu-kun or did anything to your opponents.”

“Then what did you do?!”

Karma nodded and revealed the trick.

“I used control magic. The non-elemental spell, 【Remote Control】.”

According to his mother, it was a spell that allowed the user to move a target’s body freely with magic.

She had used it to control Ryuuji’s body and execute those masterful swordsman moves.

“I was watching the feed on the 【Mirror】 and moving Ryu-kun with magic.”

“Why did you use such a roundabout method…?”

“Because you can’t get stronger unless you defeat monsters on your own, right? That’s why I controlled Ryu-kun’s body to defeat the enemy. Your level should have gone up from this.”

…He’s probably right, my level did go up.

Even though Mother was the one actually moving him, Ryuuji was the one who had technically defeated the enemy.

“Didn’t I tell you? All you have to do is entrust yourself to your Mother. I’ll take care of the level grinding for you!”

…And thus, her son Ryuuji certainly did get stronger.

However, on the grounds that it was cheating, he decided not to let her use this method ever again.