Chapter 82

Chapter 82 [Semifinal]

82，準決勝

TL : Cnine

ED/PF : akshaythedon

Part 1

Since Haruel’s fan club in the adventurer guild weren’t any help with just their wish, Ruu and I resume our information gathering using our own feet .

The place we’re heading now is… AH .

「If it’s according to the rumors, we should just do that . Haruel！」

「Waa, Eiji-kun！ What’s the matter, are you unable to hold yourself back from seeing my face?」

「As if~, it’s definitely nothing like that . 」

And then, Ruu started snickering on my side .

Haruel then tilted her head with a curious face .

「Well, it’s nothing important though . The truth is that we were looking at the habits of the tsujigiri guy . Therefore――」

So I told her about the result of our investigation until now(the so-called result isn’t a result though) .

Haruel nods deeply and then places both of her hands on my shoulder .

「It’s a hard to believe that you came to the same conclusion as me . Who do you think I am . There are a lot of fighters and my fans too . I’ve no need to be protected from this kind of person . I’ll always be the lively me . LET’S WORK HARD TOGETHER！」

Ruu and I grab the hand that was presented by Haruel .

Thus, the three of us decided to form a united front against the common enemy .

「I see, understood . Both the school and adventurer guild are hopeless, right . If that is the case, the dependable side is already decided . 」

Haruel is walking toward somewhere while bringing Ruu and me along . When we ask her, she happily gives particular type of riddle with:「Fufufu, where do you think we’re going now？」 .

Though Ruu’s giving this or that answer, it gets shot down with “buubuu” by Haruel as the wrong answer . I say, “You guys truly are carefree aren’t you”, despite the possibility of the culprit aiming at Haruel .

「The correct answer is, THIS PLACE . Let’s hear the story from them」

Haruel then stopped her feet followed by the two behind .

This place is one of the plazas in the city and Haruel was greeting the performers . She’s greeting people like poets, singers, puppeteers, and traveling performers; her aim was to collect information .

And then, that aim was a bullseye .

The traveling troubadour was holding the exact information about the tsujigiri guy .

According to that information, it seems that recently a group of bandits was destroyed around this vicinity . According to them, the culprit was a swordsman .

That swordsman seemed interested to kill strong guys and then continued to challenge the head of the bandits when he heard that the head of the bandits was strong .

It was extremely bizzare to hear that he destroyed a band of bandits alone .

As I thought, it seems he really is a dangerous guy .

「But, we can’t make a conclusion from that information yet . 」

「Yeah . It’s smell fishy but, maybe there’s another line to him―― Let’s go to the place where Jackrosa got attacked . 」

And then, we head toward the side of the river which I’ve visited several times for the sake of gaining final evidence . Jackrosa might have been training those days, so there might be something on this place .

We arrived at the river area and then split to search .

While thinking “Won’t there be something under this“, I lift a stone .

But, what I found is just a little crab who ran away in panic from under the shade; it seems I didn’t find anything .

「Nil isn’t it, Eiji-kun . 」

Haruel came and called me . I nod at her .

「Right, as expected, it couldn’t be found so easily . But well, even if we found the identity of the culprit, we have no knowledge of where he is now; in the end, it’s all for naught . 」

「That’s the problem, you know . But, we can be more vigilant if we know his face beforehand; it’s not all for naught . Even my fans maybe unable to protect me . 」

「Rather, isn’t it already hopeless if Haruel can’t protect your own self? We can limit the number of suspects if we know what his aim is . 」

「That point is completely fine; I’m training myself too, you see . 」

Haruel’s smiling happily .

But, I noticed that there’s faint trace of anxiety in her eyes .

That’s natural, even people who were as powerful as Kean and Jackrosa were beaten by the culprit, there’s no guarantee that Haruel will be safe .

「Indeed . But, I’ll also do my best to protect Haruel from that guy too . As one of your fans . 」

Right after that, Haruel’s staring at me with bewildered eyes and then nodded with “uhn” .

「Thank you, Eiji-kun . Now you’ll come and see me fight in the arena, right . If I see you, I feel that I can do my best with just that . 」

「Yeah, since it’ll be more heated from now on . 」

It’s finally the best 8, just the best moments .

And then, when there are only stronger persons left .

I need to pay careful attention, in both ways .

Moreover, while I continue searching and deciding so in my heart, I check my own skill . It’s for the sake of meeting that dangerous guy .

The skill that will continuously raise one’s own natural healing power, 【Regeneration】 .

The skill to continuously raise one’s own magic defense,【Magic Defense Up】 .

Both were skills which I became able to use recently by learning it from the Paladin class . Most of Paladin’s skills are just like this one; it’s to simply raise endurance .

And then, another one is 【Locked Stage】 .

When I try to use this skill, the surroundings suddenly become darker .

There’s a dome shaped translucent wall of 10 metres radius with me as the center .

This is a composite skill of dancer and parasite . This was the first composite skill of parasite, but, it does exist huh . Since there were almost none in the past, I used to think parasite as an isolated class .

It seems the effect is something similiar to making a room .

It’s something similar to barrier which makes one unable to exit or enter; the good point about this skill is that it can strengthen the invoked skill learnt by using parasite while inside this room .

It doesn’t seem to be of any use, but it’s good .

Well, I have learnt many things, so it’ll be alright even if something happens, I guess .

I can’t make sure that I’m not only careless but―― Just when I am thinking about it .

A monster suddenly attacks from inside the river .

It’s a dark green fishman whose body is covered with fins and scale . It has sharp and pointed nails and is posing a hunched posture, seemingly charging up it’s power .

「Something just appeared！」

「なんか出た！

「A MONSTER!? AT THIS KIND OF PLACE!?」

One of the three fishman shoots out jet-like water spray from its toes .

Though I barely dodged its attack at the last moment, it grazed on my clothes and left a faint hollow on the nearby rock .

Was it water cutter just now?

It is said that when water is put on high pressure, it can even become a bullet or a blade .

「But, if it’s only that！」

At the same as it is coming at me, Haruel and Ruu also begin their charge . We slayed them in one strike while parrying their nails, and the corpse of three fishman slowly sink into the river .

「What was this monster just now?」

When I muttered, Haruel replied, 「That’s a zombie sahagin . It’s an aquatic type of undead monster; I know about it since I’ve fought it before, but this is the first time I see it appearing in this kind of place . 」

「Hee, zombie sahagin, huh . Such a thing exists, huh . 」

When I hear the details from Haruel, it seems that this monster rarely appears in this river, but it seems that’s not the case .

There’s that tsujigiri guy and now this monster, could it be that we came to Prowkai at such a brilliant timing?

How unlucky . You might call it lucky in a certain meaning .

There are so many weird guys out there .

――It was at that time . I suddenly recalled .

When one thinks about a strange guy, there was one in this area, that strange swordsman .

it seems he likes fighting and is really skilled at that or so but it is just too heartless to come to a conclusion with only that .

Even so, when we met again in the arena, I felt a dangerous vibe from him when he said something like, “A battle without blood flowing is just a child’s play“ .

… . Nevertheless, it is nothing but my guess .

After all, there’s a possibility of being a false charge if I’m fixated on him with only that much .

But, I should be extra careful when I meet him again . There’s nothing lost by preparing for that .

Part 4

After thinking that way, I tell Ruu and Haruel about that information for the time being, and then we go back to the city .

Nevertheless, we spent too much time and were unable to find the final clue; and the finals of the tournament has started .

Both Risaharuna and Haruel safely cleared their first match and entered the next match .

It seems that nothing unusual happened till the semifinal where the champion could be seen .

Maybe it was my mistake for thinking too much that the tsujigiri guy will indiscriminately attack the fighters .

Maybe he already finished with his target and it was a fighter only by chance .

Anyway, I head toward the coliseum to cheer for the semi final while thinking about having such needless anxiety .

The people who were gathered in the plaza in front of the coliseum look like they have already forgotten about such things before the intensity of the battle .

It’s such rare event after all, so it can’t be helped that I, who was too worried about it, am also enjoying the mood .

While thinking so, I entered the coliseum with such fervent enthusiasm .