The Strongest Villain Sets Out: Reincarnated into a Merit-Based Clan, I Become the World's Strongest Swordsman - Chapter 35: Luka is the protagonist

The bandana man collapsed with a thud. A strong expression of agony was etched on the man’s face.

The curse Muramasa had inflicted must have been incredibly powerful. He didn’t move a muscle.

He was definitely dead.

“How trivial. I thought I could play a little longer.”

I averted my gaze from the bandana man and sheathed the magic sword Muramasa. Then, Cornelia, who had been attacking the other black-clad men from a distance, returned to my side with the enthusiasm of a dog.

The others had been completely wiped out.

“Good work——! As expected of Luka, you were really strong! So cool!”

It looked like a dog’s tail was growing from her rear. Of course, it was just an illusion.

I patted her head as usual.

“Good work to you too, Cornelia. Thanks for cleaning up the black-clad men in my place.”

“No, it’s fine. Those guys were trying to interfere with Luka, right? Can’t forgive that.”

The reason the others didn’t join the fight against the bandana man was that Cornelia had been constantly disrupting them. She’s useful at the level of a watchdog.

Watching her relax with a happy expression, I couldn’t believe she was the one who had wiped out the black-clad men.

She seemed normal when she was smiling, though.

“No way… to be defeated so easily. I couldn’t win at all…”

Behind Cornelia, the original protagonist Eiden knelt on the ground with his head bowed. Though I couldn’t see his expression, I could tell from his faint voice that he was feeling down.

I didn’t feel the need to say anything to him.

To me, the protagonist was someone who just needed to stay alive.

There was no need to whip his spirit, nor was I obliged to encourage him. I immediately returned my gaze to the bandana man behind him.

From here on was the long-awaited bonus time. Naturally, having defeated that man, I had the right to claim the drop items.

After patting Cornelia moderately, I asked her to collect the belongings of the black-clad men. I watched her run off happily, then rummaged through the bandana man’s corpse.

“Hmm hmm. Aside from the cursed dagger being out of the question, he actually had quite a few items.”

I rummaged through the bandana man’s pockets. One after another, I found items with special effects.

Some even enhanced abilities other than aura.

They were probably items recovered from the academy’s warehouse. Since we had already left the warehouse and the bandana man was carrying them, that meant they belonged to me, the one who defeated the bandana man, right?

I arrogantly deployed my supreme logic and seized the items.

I ignored the dagger that had fallen to the ground. Such a poor-quality item was nothing more than a lower-tier version of Muramasa in every aspect.

Having contracted with a demon and being recognized by Muramasa, my mental strength wouldn’t be contaminated, but holding it felt somehow creepy and unnecessary.

After I finished taking most of the items, I called out to Cornelia, who was still working.

“Hey, Cornelia. That’s enough for now. The academy teachers will take care of the rest.”

“Really? Isn’t that wasteful?”

“I recovered a decent amount from the bandana man. That’s enough.”

“I see. Then let’s go home. Staying here any longer wouldn’t be fun anyway.”

“Right. We’ve finished what we needed to do. If there are any remnants inside the school building, we’ll hunt them down for fun.”

“Agreed!”

Together with Cornelia, who hugged my arm, I left the hidden room, abandoning Eiden who still hadn’t raised his head.

I moved as far as possible from the hidden room and began checking the items together with Cornelia.

It was a jackpot.

☆

The first event of Monochrome Sword ended.

Thanks to the teachers’ efforts, most of the bandits who had infiltrated the academy were successfully eliminated.

According to the teachers, several had apparently escaped, but since Cornelia and I had annihilated the enemy’s main force, casualties were kept to a minimum.

Cornelia and I split the items we had taken from the intruders and parted ways before the teachers found out.

Currently, I was lying on my bed in a corner of my dormitory room.

Next to me was Astaroth, who had deliberately lain down.

“It was a wise decision not to bring back that filthy dagger, Luka-sama.”

“Hmm? Yeah… it would just be a nuisance to have.”

“Even without such a thing, I will curse and kill Luka-sama’s enemies. Please leave it to me.”

“No, that’s fine.”

“Ah!”

When I treated her roughly as usual, she let out an excited voice. Please don’t suddenly raise your voice loudly in my ear. It’s noisy.

“You’re being mean, Luka-sama.”

“My enemies are mine. You’re just one of the options. Don’t do unnecessary things.”

“Fufu. I knew Luka-sama would say that from the very beginning.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Because I wanted to be treated coldly…!”

“Gross.”

“Aahn!”

Astaroth could no longer hide her excitement. I had casually played along with her, but what an easy-to-please person to be happy with something like this.

It was helpful for me that she was easy to control. While thinking about such things, I gazed at the items in my hand.

These were the same as Astaroth. They were merely tools to enhance my power.

If items became my trump card, it would be the end. Relying too much on items was no good either.

[How nice for you, Luka. You’ve got lots more toys.]

Lilith, who had been quietly floating above my head until just now, chuckled softly while bobbing up and down.

I glanced upward.

“Well, yeah. I only wanted one, but I was lucky to find some additional useful ones.”

[More training for a while?]

“Of course. In addition to that, I plan to participate in the martial arts tournament next month.”

[Martial arts tournament?]

Lilith tilted her head with a question mark.

I grinned and answered.

“It’s the greatest event held at the coliseum in the western district of the royal capital.”