74 – Punishment Time by the Natives, for the Native, with the Natives

I charged forward through the ruins of the royal capital, where even the rubble had been blown away.

 “Get in front of the rope on Kobiul and the others’ guillotine, now!”

Seeing me advancing, Siegfried barks at the soldiers who were blown away by the explosion, trying to spur them into action. But ordinary soldiers without sufficient defensive skills can’t be expected to just get up so easily.

How far away is it?

I couldn’t tell precisely, but like a surveillance satellite, I grasped the situation from above and thrust out my fist at my side, like in traditional karate, and launched a punch into the air.

 — Gwah!

 — Whoa!

 — Gyaah!

Just as the soldiers with knives and hatchets were staggering toward the rope that held the guillotine blade, they let out cries and were blown away, like paper targets hit by a rubber band-powered chopstick gun.

It was the shockwave from my air punch that did it.

After clearing out all the soldiers approaching the guillotine, I shattered the large blade with another air punch shockwave. I fired it in slow motion so as not to kill the soldiers, but I put a bit more spirit into the blow against the steel blade.

The blade shattered into pieces and scattered as iron dust, raining down on Kobiul and the others. When I then destroyed the wooden frame holding their necks in place, Kobiul and the others shook their heads vigorously like wet fluffy animals trying to dry off, brushing away the iron dust.

One of Kobiul’s subordinates slid his head under each of Kobiul’s arms and supported him. Then they looked at me—well, at Brad—and bowed deeply. Brad nodded in return, as if to say, “Indeed.”

Kobiul and his people staggered toward me.

As I continued to pick off would-be snipers aiming at Kobiul with bows and magic using my air punches, the Siegfried camp grew increasingly 

despondent. But one man still stood with his arms and legs spread out, fired up.

 “Haha… Haha… Th-this is crap. It’s all just a trick, right?! Yeah, there’s no way a native could be that strong!!!”

There it is—the old “it’s a trick” excuse.

People always label what they don’t want to believe as a trick…

He was a pretty young guy.

Ah, I guess since I was reincarnated, we’re probably about the same age…

 “Let me ask you something. Were you the one who did that to Kobiul and the others?”

 “Damn right! I took ’em out myself. They were so weak, they weren’t even a warm-up!”

The young man spread his hands upward like a foreigner going “Phew” in exasperation, provoking me.

 “You there—I’ll at least ask your name.”

 “Hah! I got no name to give to a scamming loser like you!”

 “I see. I only asked so I could carve your name onto your gravestone, thinking it’d be pitiful to leave it blank…”

 “Shut the hell up!!!”

Just as we were about to square off, an unnecessary interruption barges in.

 “That’s Hero Igawa! Haruki Igawa! Even you, Brad, can’t defeat Hero Haruki!!! If you surrender your right to the throne and swear fealty to me right now, I might let you live!”

Even though I didn’t ask, Siegfried starts spilling everything about the summoned hero. What would he do if I were a sorcerer and could curse someone just by knowing their true name?

Well, it is Siegfried. What can you do…

From now on, Siegfried, your nickname is “Harukist.”

 “Damn it! Don’t go blabbing unnecessary crap, you stupid prince!”

 “I’m not stupid! The one who calls someone stupid is the real stupid one! Take it back!”

 “Siegfried, leave this to Igawa. We have other things to take care of.”

 “Ares! This is Liebenrasia! I have command here! You stay quiet!”

For a moment—just a moment—I felt sympathy for the summoned ones. At the same time, I was thankful they took out the trash.

 “You said something earlier I can’t ignore.”

 “What the hell now?!”

 “You said the natives are weak. That’s false. We only lost because you took hostages. If not for that, my subordinates wouldn’t have lost.”

 “What kind of crap are you spouting?! Winning’s all that matters, especially in a place like this without proper laws!!!”

 “Laws, huh… Then I’ll be the law of this world—no, its very reason.”

Hero Haruki placed a hand on his sword’s hilt and lowered his stance, as if preparing to draw it in an iaido-style slash. 

(TL: iaido – japanese art of sword-drawing)

WHAM!!!

I striked down on him from above with a blow completely ignoring his stance. Haruki collapsed like a tomato dropped from a height, arms and legs splayed out.

 “Get up. That was only 0.1% of my power.”

Haruki staggered to his feet and protested.

 “Hah… Hah… You coward! I hadn’t said I was ready to fight yet!”

 “Huh?”

Wait, is he one of those who can’t fight unless there’s a bell or some kind of signal?

 “Then go ahead. You can call the start of the fight whenever you want.”

Haruki inched closer, just within sword range but still out of reach of my hand.

 “Now!!”

He declared the start just as his sword was nearly fully drawn. The exposed blade was about to touch my torso when—

 “Guhuhh!”

Haruki’s body bent into a sharp angle, and he collapsed, clutching his stomach in agony.

 “Either way, the result wouldn’t have changed.”

 “If you’re gonna use your legs… you should’ve said so… you cheater…”

Classic Gen Z!

No, that’s not it—this guy’s just an extreme case.

He’s the type who skips reading the long user agreements when registering accounts, and when something goes wrong later, he yells “I didn’t know that crap!”

Should I have warned him beforehand like “a kick is coming” the way they announce foul balls? Nah, that’s unnecessary.

He wouldn’t accept the outcome anyway unless it went his way…

 “How about this: we each get one hit? That would be fair, right?”

 “Fine, if I get to go first!”

 “Agreed, then—”

Clang!

 “Hahaha! Never let your guard down! That’s just tactics, baby. Don’t hate me for your own stupidity, you—”

Before he could finish speaking, Haruki had already drawn his sword and slashed at my neck. I’d expected him to be this kind of scumbag, and in a way, I was relieved to be proven right.

Looking at the sword that had just struck me, Haruki trembled. The blade had bent into ‘Ω’ shape right where it struck my neck.

 “You must have some strength to bend a sword like that. I have to hunt down a monster that could destroy the world. I’ll use you as the first stepping stone. It’s my turn now, right?”

As I gazed at Hero Haruki, his face visibly paled by the second.