Chapter 12 — Wait, Would I Not Also Die in That Case?
“You are saying you want to eat me, correct?” Hanakawa asked the hero.
“Yeah. You look tasty, but I don’t know how I feel about eating a person.”
“Please treasure that emotion! That is an invaluable part of the human experience!” At the very least, it didn’t seem she was hungry enough to leap forward and devour him instantly.
“I guess I should be more careful with what abilities I steal. I can’t control skills that are always active.”
“Ah. Well. What is it you intend with me, then? I am not quite sure what your objective is.”
“Objective?” Kris sank into thought. Hanakawa could hardly believe it. She didn’t even have a clear reason for coming back here.
What, are you going to kill me without having a reason to do so?! He didn’t voice his thoughts, though. His opponent was overwhelmingly powerful. Her breath alone would be enough to blow him away.
“Oh, sorry. I got a bit confused. After taking in so many skills from that woman earlier, my head’s been spinning a bit.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Anyway, my objective... I want to live as easy a life as possible.”
“Err, I was not asking about your overall life objective.”
“But that doesn’t mean I just want to be like those rotten old nobles and spend each day sitting on a pile of wealth.”
“That sounds like an enviable enough position to me.”
“If I can use the powers I have to the fullest, I thought that might make for a happier life. I was always kind of athletic, and I can learn most things just by watching.”
“So that is why you were given a skill that steals other skills.”
“I thought being an adventurer was my true calling. I figured if I hunted monsters, I’d get money and fame. Nothing easier.”
“If that made you happy, might I recommend you go back to it?” Hanakawa was hoping she wouldn’t involve herself with him further.
“But there’s a limit to how strong people can get. If I lived such a lazy life, I’d hit that limit in no time. From what I’ve heard, the way to break through that limit is to train desperately hard, even putting your own life on the line.”
“Ah, the limit-breaking skill. Those who possess it can be irritating as a matter of course.”
Ryousuke Higashida and Yoshiaki Fukuhara, the other two classmates who had been previously summoned to this world with Hanakawa, had possessed that skill. If you had it, you could exceed the human race’s level ninety-nine limit. After receiving the Gift, reaching that maximum level took considerable talent and enormous effort. It was the limit for the majority of humans, and unless you were truly exceptional, there was no getting past it. But there were some who could indeed pass that limit with extreme effort. Exceeding level ninety-nine wasn’t technically impossible.
“But I hate working hard for something that might not pay off.”
“Oh, so you aren’t working that hard.”
“And then I was given the power to take people’s skills just by cutting them.”
“Ahh, now I understand. In that case, have you not already obtained your objective?”
“No. This power has a restriction on it. You should know, if we fail to kill Yogiri Takatou, we might lose it.”
Either Malna or Rilna had been killed by Yogiri, and the other had fled, so Hanakawa had figured the entire incident was over, but now that Kris mentioned it, he recalled the conditions on their powers. Whoever killed Yogiri would keep their powers as an apostle, but everyone else would lose them.
“Yeah, I don’t want to lose this power.”
“Uhh, I don’t really care either way about that power, so I don’t mind if you do whatever you like.” Since Hanakawa’s power had already been stolen, he couldn’t care less.
“And if no one challenges Yogiri for a set time, the apostles will all die. There aren’t many of us left, so I figure I should probably take him on soon. I wanted to get as powerful as I could before trying, though.”
“I see. Don’t you think the power you possess now should be sufficient?” Hanakawa remarked offhandedly. If she went and challenged Yogiri in her pride and got killed in turn, that would be great for him.
Wait, wouldn’t I also die in that case? Hanakawa had no way of beating Yogiri. If the time came and all the apostles died automatically, he wouldn’t have a chance of surviving. He hoped that wasn’t the case, but one of the twin goddesses had escaped. Even if she had lost the will to kill Yogiri, that didn’t necessarily mean that the death condition had been lifted.
“Right. I figure I have enough powers to challenge him, but it might take some time to get used to them all. In the process of getting used to them, I thought I might want to eat you. So please come with me.”
“Very well.” I suspect if you do get a grasp of those powers, your appetite for me will increase manyfold...
Staying with Kris was a terrible idea. He wanted to find some way to escape, but there was no point in trying to break away and run now. She had the ability to teleport to wherever he was.
For now, all I can do is expend every effort to survive. His situation seemed hopeless, but things still had a chance to improve. He had been miraculously saved a number of times already, so there was always a chance it might happen again. He had no choice but to entrust all of his hopes to that uncertain future.
◇ ◇ ◇
Yoshifumi, Sage and emperor. His lanky form didn’t seem to hold much strength, and his behavior didn’t give the impression of someone remotely experienced in combat. He looked like nothing more than your average hoodlum, so someone with a reasonable amount of physical prowess should have been able to take him on. Even Vivian felt like she had a chance against him.
“But a fight like this doesn’t seem like much fun,” Yoshifumi said, despite being the one who had called off his subordinate.
“You’re the one who said our fight was a draw,” complained the woman Vivian had been fighting up until then.
“If I’m gonna fight somebody, I want them to think they’re the strongest ever and totally look down on me. Seeing someone like that helpless against me is what makes it fun.”
“Well, there’s no hope of that happening, right? She already knows you’re the emperor and a Sage.”
That was true. No matter how weak he looked, Vivian had no intention of taking him lightly. He was a Sage. She knew he must be incredibly powerful.
“Let’s just end this, then. Okay, we’re done,” Yoshifumi said, having done nothing at all.
“What? What exactly do you think is over?!” Vivian protested. She was still alive and hadn’t been hurt in the least.
“Look at your feet,” the Sage replied.
Vivian did as she was told. At first, she didn’t see what was wrong. She thought for a moment that he had been teasing her, but then she realized the tips of her toes were starting to turn gray. It was like they were turning to stone. And slowly, that gray was spreading.
“If I kill you, you’ll just come back to life, so I decided to turn you to stone instead. It’s a power I got recently. Enjoy.”
“You... Chainsaw Shield!”
Vivian hurled a shield at him, but the Sage’s companion knocked it aside easily. With the fight over, his subordinate once again took up a position between the two of them. At this rate, it didn’t seem like there was anything Vivian could do.
“This is the same thing you did back at the bar, isn’t it?” the woman asked. “Wasn’t it instantaneous before?”
“Yeah, but that was boring.”
“What? Are you planning on sitting around watching the whole time she transforms?!”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“There’s nothing wrong, but...how is that fun? And we came all the way here. Are you actually happy with turning the princess to stone?”
“Hmm. Now that you mention it, it does sound kind of lame. But that’s how it is. There’s nothin’ else for us to do here. The best I’ve got is tormenting her a bit.”
“If you have nothing else to do, let’s go home!”
“Oh, right!” Yoshifumi turned back to Vivian. “You came here with the rest of the royal family, didn’t you? Where are they?”
“What does that have to do with you?!” Vivian attempted to create a shield to stop the petrification, but her healing shields didn’t have any effect.
“If there are more of you, I’m thinkin’ of taking you as a hostage.”
“Well, there are! My brothers will come soon, as well as Gale, a swordsman of the Heavenly Blade rank! He’ll cut you in two in a flash!” She didn’t know if there was any point in lying, but she said it anyway in hopes it would extend her life at least a little.
“You’re here for the World Sword ’cause you can’t beat me without it, right? What will a couple more of you be able to do?”
“Wh-Why would I tell you that?!”
“Fair enough. I’d like to think you guys have something up your sleeve. Speaking of which, what happened to the World Sword anyway?”
Whether it was actually the World Sword or not was yet to be determined, but Vivian had tossed away the worn out hunk of rusted metal just in case. It should have been somewhere nearby, but she couldn’t see it.
“Not to mention Rei and Shigeto are gone,” the Sage’s companion added.
“Huh?” A perplexed look came over Yoshifumi’s face before he burst out laughing. “Aha ha ha! They betrayed me?!”
“Wait, didn’t you have something to keep Rei in check?”
“No? She asked to join me, and I was lookin’ for a new Fourth Heavenly King, so I thought she’d fit right in.”
“Oh, come on! You trusted some random girl without any insurance?!”
“I don’t trust anyone. I thought it would be interesting if she tried to pull somethin’.”
“You thought it would be interesting?” The woman sighed.
“If you want to betray me someday too, feel free.”
“I know how strong you are. There’s no way I’d try that. They don’t know anything about you.”
“But if they grabbed the sword and ran, does that mean it was the real thing?”
“What are they going to do with it?”
“Somethin’ is probably written in that book of his. I bet they ran away because they had a plan.”
Vivian immediately regretted her actions. The sword actually was capable of defeating Yoshifumi, but she had thoughtlessly discarded it.
“Rena, can you follow them?”
“No, not unless I see them running away.”
“I guess we gotta chase them the old-fashioned way.”
Yoshifumi had lost interest in Vivian. It wasn’t that he had forgotten about her, but his attention had been captured by the sudden betrayal.
“Hey,” Vivian called out to him. She was now petrified up to her knees.
“You have friends coming, right?” the Sage answered. “Sure hope they save you.”
Evidently not caring about her fate in the slightest, Yoshifumi and Rena turned to leave the room.
“Wait!”
“What? You plannin’ on doing something pathetic like asking me to help you?”
“I want a deal! If you undo the petrification, I will tell you where those other two went!”
“Oh? That sounds fun.”
It was still rather pathetic. She was begging for her life from the person who had killed her parents and stolen her country. But if she turned into a statue here, everything would be over. She was the last survivor of the royal line. No matter what happened, she couldn’t die now.
“I have the ability to search for things,” she explained. “That is how I got here in the first place. So no matter where they take it, I can find the World Sword!”
“Oh? That does sound interesting.” Yoshifumi snapped his fingers. The petrification that had reached up to her thighs stopped, flakes of stone crumbling and falling to the ground. It seemed the petrification process had only started on the surface.
“Yoshifumi, you’re going to trust her now?” Rena complained.
“Like I said, I don’t trust anyone. It’s fine if she tries to pull something. As long as it’s entertaining, I’ll be satisfied.”
“Let me warn you in advance, then,” Rena said to Vivian. “Yoshifumi is stronger than I am, so it’s pointless to try anything. You’ll just get killed. If you want to live a long life, don’t do anything stupid.”
Of course, Vivian had no intention of doing anything to Yoshifumi right away. That would wait until she had retaken the World Sword.
But this guy is full of openings!
Yoshifumi overflowed with arrogance. He was confident enough to believe that even if everyone betrayed him in the end, he was still powerful enough to handle things on his own, so he didn’t pay any attention to the small things. He probably couldn’t stand being that fussy. If she agreed to work with him, she’d have a number of chances. At least, that’s what Vivian convinced herself.
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