Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: Justice vs. Justice 

“Naofumi . . .” 
The malice in his eyes was unbelievable. Never before in all of my fights against other people had someone’s icy, murderous intent felt so tangible. But why was he glaring at me so menacingly? 
“Your actions! They are absolutely unforgivable!” 
“What are you going on about all of a sudden?” 
Had I done something wrong? 
“Then again, if you asked me to come up with something I’d done wrong . . . I could go on for hours.” 
“I wish I could argue with that. I really do,” Raphtalia whispered with a sigh. 
It was nothing to be ashamed of. I’d just done what was necessary to survive. 
“Mr. Naofumi is the embodiment of justice. He can do no evil,” Atla replied. 
“I’m not so sure about that . . .” I said. 
I thought about what Atla said. Saying that I made the rules would put me on the same level as Itsuki. It was hard to tell whether he was under the effects of a curse or just showing his true colors now. 
“Then let me spell it out for you. You’ve gathered up slaves, forced them into hard labor, and you’re keeping all of the profits for yourself! Am I wrong?” 
“Isn’t that the whole point?” 
That’s what slaves were for, right? Of course, it was only natural to compensate someone for their labor. But once you owned a slave, that was manpower that belonged to you. You didn’t have to pay them for every little job they did. Did I have any qualms about purchasing another human being? Sure I did, but I was just doing what needed to be done. 
This was taking the argument to the extreme, but to put it in terms of modern society, slaves were kind of like vacuum cleaners. No one was going to look at a vacuum cleaner and feel sorry for it because it was sucking up dust every day. Slaves were a convenient tool, just like a vacuum cleaner or a washing machine. 
“What is that guy with the bow talking about?” 
 
“Hard labor? Has Bubba Shield ever made us work that hard?” 
“He never orders us to do more than we can handle. On the contrary, it’s always just the right amount.” 
The slaves started whispering among themselves. They sounded like a bunch of shills. 
“More importantly, this popcorn stuff that you made for us is super good, bubba!” Keel shouted. 
She was sitting in the gallery and chomping on some imitation popcorn that I’d cooked up to help set the mood for the match. It really wasn’t all that good. 
“Let’s go do something fun after this is over!” 
“Yeah, let’s do something fun!” 
Oh, damn it! They were distracting me. I wished they would just shut up! 
“Oh my, look at that unquestioning obedience, little Naofumi!” 
That killer whale wench, Sadeena, needed to keep her mouth shut! 
“The village children enjo———” 
“She says that despite being slaves, the villagers enjoy the work that they do.” 
S’yne weighed in and her stuffed-doll familiar translated for her. 
Letting them get to me would be a waste of energy! 
“You’re making them act like they enjoy laboring for you! That’s even worse! And I heard about how you gave a sickly young girl expensive medicine to force her older brother into hard labor! The same slave siblings that Princess Malty was trying to rescue!” 
“There’s no way Witch would be trying to rescue anyone!” 
I reflexively shouted back in anger. But it was the truth. Doing a good deed was impossible for that woman. That, I was sure of. 
“Who is this ‘Witch’ you speak of? We must not be the only pair of siblings that you have rescued,” Atla said. 
“No, you’re the only ones,” I replied. 
Atla was sitting next to me looking confused, but I was pretty sure Itsuki was referring to her and her brother. I don’t know where he’d gotten his information, but he sure was spouting off nonsense. Witch rescuing a demi¬human? Even if hell did freeze over, that still wasn’t going to happen. 
But wait . . . Why the hell was he mentioning Witch?! 
“Itsuki! You just said Witch’s name, didn’t you?! Why are you bringing her up?!” 
 
I couldn’t even imagine how it all fit together. Surely Witch wasn’t pulling Itsuki’s strings now, was she? But Itsuki clearly wasn’t listening to me. He just continued on with the accusations. 
“I also heard that you sold your medicines to rich nobles but did nothing for the poor!” 
Was he talking about my peddling operations? Or did he mean before . . . when I was traveling around Melromarc as the supposed saint of the bird god? 
“I’m no saint. No one expects a merchant to sell goods to someone with no money, do they?” 
Every now and then, some entitled jerk would show up and demand that I grace them with some medicine, like it was their God-given right. Maybe he was referring to those people. 
“I heard about the evil noble who had fallen ill and was destined to finally meet his end. Thanks to you sticking your nose where it didn’t belong, he escaped death and the people’s suffering was prolonged!” 
“Now you’re really barking up the wrong tree. I only sell the stuff. It’s not up to me to decide how people use it. And anyway, refusing to sell someone medicine because they’re a bad person, or trying to say that someone is better off dead, would be even worse.” 
What the hell? Since when was selling medicine to rich people wrong? Besides, even if I had refused to sell to those rich people, it would have just been them doing the badmouthing. In the end, I was the bad guy no matter what I did! 
“As a hero, you have the power to save others, and yet I spoke with a lamenting mother who told me about how you refused to save her son!” 
“I have no idea who you’re talking about . . .” 
That wasn’t ringing any bells. I didn’t save someone? I always did my best to save anyone that was seriously ill. Just like I had done with the old Hengen Muso lady. That’s not to say I didn’t demand those people pay for it afterward with anything they owned, but still . . . 
“The woman clung to me, crying and saying she could never forgive you!” 
Who would still be holding a grudge against me after all that I did? Oh wait, I think I understood. 
“That son that you mentioned . . . He was already dead, wasn’t he?” 
 
“That’s right! She told me that your shield had the power to perform a miracle, and yet you still refused to help!” 
“Are you even listening to yourself? There’s no way I could bring the dead back to life, even if I do have the legendary shield. The people that can do that kind of thing are from another world.” 
I knew of people that could come back to life. Although, we had still managed to kill them. That was getting off topic though. 
I had pretty much figured out who Itsuki was talking about. It was really rare, but people like that did show up every now and then in villages and towns. They would bring me a corpse and ask me to bring the person back to life. Based on the rumors that I was a saint, and my actual feats as the Shield Hero, they would insist that I should be able to do such a thing. They would come begging to me, expecting miracles. 
“Please, bring this poor soul back to life!” they would plead. 
Those kinds of people never listened to reason. It would be one thing if they just burst into tears and gave up after being told I could do no such thing. But so, so many of them would just get pissed off and start trying to attack me. That’s why I started putting up signs at the entrances of the towns and villages that said I couldn’t bring people back to life. 
“It seems like you’re just going out in search of unjustified resentment based on misunderstandings, and then using that to condemn me as evil. Instead of wasting your time doing that, why don’t you just fix all of those problems yourself? You’re a hero too, right?” 
“No, Princess Malty told me that these were special powers that only your shield possesses!” 
I guess that Witch bitch really was telling Itsuki what he wanted to hear now. She was exactly what he needed to convince himself that I was evil. Itsuki was more close-minded than ever. He clearly wasn’t going to listen to me, no matter what I said. 
But seriously, was it really necessary for Witch to go and deceive every single one of the heroes? It had been the same with Ren. She must have swooped down on Itsuki when he was in a bad place. Now I really wanted to capture Itsuki. We needed to make him tell us where Witch was. Actually, there was a good possibility she was lying low at the same place Itsuki had been hiding out. I’d just have to hope that the slave trader’s protégés could figure out where that was. 
“Itsuki, that makes no sense. Naofumi and I spent some time comparing the abilities of our weapons. Some of the effects are different, but the type of skills they possess are basically the same. If Naofumi’s shield had such an ability, I’m sure that my sword would have an equivalent ability. Or are you claiming that your bow has some kind of unique ability that our weapons don’t?” 
 
Ren interjected with a sound argument. Indeed, my shield was meant for defense and Ren’s sword was meant to attack, so there were fundamental differences. But in general, the weapon skills all worked the same. It was just as Ren had said. 
Well, I couldn’t deny that some kind of resurrection skill might exist, but we still hadn’t confirmed the details. If one of the legendary weapons did possess such a skill, it probably would be the shield. But if I did have that kind of ability, you can bet I’d be using it. Hell, I’d be making a killing by charging people ridiculous prices to bring other people back from the dead. Actually, if I could resurrect people, I’d bring Ost back to fight on our side in a heartbeat. Waves or otherwise, I’m sure we could overcome pretty much any problem with the almighty Spirit Tortoise fighting for us. 
“He has committed countless other crimes! I cannot forgive you, Naofumi!” Itsuki shouted. 
“Nonsense. On the contrary, what about all the people you couldn’t save because you were too weak to defeat the Spirit Tortoise?” I asked. 
He completely ignored his own failures and preached to me about justice. What a joke! 
“That’s beside the point. If you’re not willing to repent, then I won’t go easy on you!” 
Itsuki readied his bow. 
“This is my new bow. It’s a truly superb piece of equipment. It’s called the Justice Bow. And now I’m going to use it to defeat you!” 
Itsuki fired a barrage of arrows into the gallery. Was attacking innocent bystanders his idea of justice?! 
“Like hell you will! Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield! Shooting Star Shield!” 
I summoned my Float Shield, as well, and made sure none of the slaves in the gallery were harmed. 
“We won’t let you,” said S’yne. 
“Let’s do this!” Sadeena shouted. 
The two of them used their skills and magic to knock the magic arrows out of the air. 
 
“Itsuki! Stop this!” shouted Ren. 
He was batting the arrows away with his sword to protect the slaves. Raphtalia and Atla sprang into action too. Fortunately, none of the slaves were injured. But that announcer, who always shouted so passionately, had been hit by one of the arrows. 
“Urgh . . .” 
“Are . . . are you okay?!” 
The announcer fell to the ground with a thud, but then stood back up immediately. 
“Mr. Naofumi, I felt some kind of sinister force swell up and shoot through that man. What was that?” Atla asked. 
“I have no idea.” 
He looked like he was okay. 
“Mr. Itsuki, as announcer for the underground coliseum, I’ve aided the Shield Hero in his plot to deceive you. Please forgive me!” 
Huh? What was the announcer up to? Did he have a change of heart and decide to turn on me? Something wasn’t right. 
“You are forgiven. Reflect on your sins and wash your hands of this shady business.” 
“Yes sir, Mr. Itsuki!” 
The announcer had a crazy look in his eyes. It was as if he had been brainwashed. 
“Itsuki . . . That bow of yours . . .” Ren muttered. 
He pointed at the bow and Itsuki grinned happily. 
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? By unlocking the power of this bow and shooting an opponent, I can liberate them from brainwashing so that they can finally understand me!” 
Did he really think he was liberating people from brainwashing so that they could understand him? There’s no way people would sympathize with others so easily. Case in point, Itsuki was making zero effort to understand my side of the story. On the contrary, he was the one brainwashing people. Justice Bow, my ass. 
“This bow that Princess Malty entrusted me with possesses divine power! With this weapon, I can rescue even irredeemable trash!” 
I decided to try thinking about things from Itsuki’s point of view. 
He was defeated by the Spirit Tortoise and lost everything. That’s when Witch showed up and instigated him, which awakened new powers in the form of a curse series. If it were a mecha anime, it would be like the excitement of switching to a new robot suit. And then, before Itsuki came down from that high, Witch had sent him out to earn money by fighting in the coliseums. But he was being careful about how he used the power since it was his trump card. Something like that. 
 
Either way, it was clear that Itsuki had unlocked a curse series weapon. 
“Itsuki, let me tell you how it really is. That bow may seem like a tool of justice to you, but things aren’t that simple. The truth is, that’s a sinister bow with the power to brainwash others.” 
“You’re wrong! This bow . . . is the embodiment of justice!” 
I’d seen anime and manga where the hero went around spouting off nonsense. The hero would defeat an enemy and that enemy would be forced to sympathize with the hero. It seemed reasonable at first, but thinking about it from another perspective, the whole idea of trying to make someone understand something by fighting them was pretty warped. If a little violence is all it took to make someone abandon their beliefs, then those weren’t worthy of being called beliefs in the first place. 
“Everyone, fight me! Open your eyes to that which is just!” 
He was on a completely different level than Ren had been. Ren had still been aware that he was in the wrong. But that wasn’t the case for Itsuki. Itsuki was charging forward, blindly following his own sense of justice to the very end. 
In terms of the seven deadly sins, this would probably fall under pride. But that wasn’t a perfect fit either. Another possibility would be vainglory, which was one of the eight cardinal sins. Or maybe it was one of the eight deadly sins that popped up in anime or manga every now and then as an alternative take on the concept. This was getting into real escapist, nerd territory. 
I’d seen two instances of an eighth deadly sin. The first was justice. It was a justice that had been taken too far, becoming cold and merciless. Even the slightest of sins was deemed unforgivable and had to be paid for with one’s life. The second was fanaticism—sticking to one’s beliefs no matter what. Even if it meant one’s own ruin. 

Then there was also the possibility that it was all four of those. Ren had unlocked multiple curse series too. It had been gluttony and greed in his case. We’d only seen two at once so far, but three or four at once might be possible too. I felt like I was starting to understand what this “justice” was that Itsuki was chasing. 

“You’re wrong!” 
Rishia lashed out at Itsuki in a surprisingly loud voice. 
“You misunderstand Naofumi, Mr. Itsuki!” 
“Is that you, Rishia? You, too, have been brainwashed by Naofumi.” 
“Mr. Itsuki, you said that Naofumi was forcing slaves into hard labor and keeping the profits for himself, right?” 
Itsuki nodded with a look of disgust on his face. 
“Then tell me. Why is everyone living in Naofumi’s village in good health? Have you heard from any slaves that were overworked? Have you talked with anyone who was nearly worked to death?” 
“I don’t know about any of that. But there’s no way that Princess Malty or Mald would lie to me!” 
“I’m asking if you verified any of this yourself!” 
Uh oh. Rishia had switched into her justice mode. That hadn’t happened for a while now. Not since we fought Kyo. If they started fighting while she was like this, we’d get to see the awakened Rishia. 
“I’ve been watching Naofumi rebuild the village from the very start, when he brought the slaves in. Do you have any idea how many people Naofumi has saved after they fell into a life of slavery? And you call that forcing them into hard labor and hoarding the profits? Hogwash!” 
“She’s right! Not a single child in that village is being forced to do work they don’t want to do!” Ren shouted. 
He jumped on the bandwagon and tried to help talk some sense into Itsuki. 
“That’s right! We’re all living life to the fullest, thanks to bubba saving us!” 
“We’re working hard to rebuild our village!” 
The slaves all started to speak up in opposition to Itsuki. 
“Despite what you all might say, Naofumi has openly confessed to his crimes. There is no denying it!” 
“Confessed? Are you talking about when I said I work my slaves like horses? Sure, I confess to doing that.” 
“Mr. Naofumi, that’s not helping your case at all. Besides, you went through all of that trouble to buy up the Lurolona slaves when the prices were skyrocketing, so there are no profits to speak of. You’re still in the red,” said Raphtalia. 
 
She let out a deep sigh. But I did work the slaves like horses! There was nothing wrong with that. 
“The children in Naofumi’s village aren’t normal slaves. They’re always having so much fun while they work. It doesn’t even make sense to call them slaves,” added Ren. 
Umm, I was pretty sure they would be categorized as slaves, from a social status perspective, and considering that they all had slave curses. 
“On the contrary, you would think that Naofumi was the villagers’ slave if you saw how hard he works for them!” Rishia shouted. 
“Wha . . . ?!” 
“Yeah! He stays up late every night and spends every last minute doing all that he can for the village and the neighboring town! And he still trains to better himself on top of that! He doesn’t even have time to level! Which of those sounds like a slave to you?!” Ren added. 
“What the hell?! What are you trying to say, you bastards?!” I shouted. 
I was on the verge of activating Rishia’s slave curse to punish her. 
“Naofumi is the village foster parent,” Ren went on. 
“Oh my . . . I guess he is. Little Naofumi is the village mommy,” Sadeena interjected. 
“Not even close! I am not a mommy!” 
These bastards had it all wrong! Especially Sadeena! Neither Ren nor Rishia were making any sense anymore! 
“You’re absolutely wrong!” I shouted. 
“Mr. Naofumi, I believe in you,” Atla said. 
What the hell did that mean?! Bastards, all of them! I was going to chew the whole village out later. 
“Despite what you may say, the truth speaks for itself! Naofumi is evil, and that’s that!” 
Itsuki wasn’t budging. But Rishia continued on. 
“Mr. Itsuki, what about yourself? Are you free of sin? I find that very hard to believe.” 
“Enough of the theatrics. It’s repulsive. You make me want to puke!” 
Itsuki glared at Rishia with a scowl on his face. Talk about verbal abuse. Did he really think it was okay to talk to her like that? He’d already forced her to try to kill herself by jumping into the ocean, and yet here he was still pretending like he was the good guy. 
 
“There is only one thing for me to do, and that is to destroy all traces of evil in this world!” 
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” I said. 
All traces of evil in this world? As long as there were people, there would be conflict. According to Itsuki’s standards, Ren and I counted as evil. Actually, I was sure anyone that didn’t bow to him would be considered evil in his book. 
“I may possess very little power. But even so, I . . . I will not condone such injustice!” Itsuki shouted. 
He was trying to sound like some kind of hero. He pointed his bow at me and drew the string. When he did, an arrow appeared. 
“Naofumi! I will shoot clean through that injustice!” 
I could hear the whistling sound of Itsuki’s arrow slicing through the air as it came hurtling toward me. I moved my Float Shield and blocked the arrow. 
“Injustice, you say?” 
That was my line. I got summoned here as the hero they didn’t like, so they created an elaborate conspiracy to persecute me. It didn’t get any more unjust than that. What the hell gave him the right to go on about injustice? Itsuki’s words themselves were a big, stinking pile of injustice. 
“Mr. Itsuki, it seems you are not willing to listen.” 
Rishia held her sword out and took a fighting stance. 
“Mr. Itsuki, I cannot accept this justice of yours. My justice deems your actions to be unacceptable!” 
“Itsuki! This isn’t who you are! If you give yourself up to that cursed power, it will only lead to your destruction!” Ren shouted. 
“Do not interfere!” 
Itsuki aimed his bow up into the air and drew the string. Another arrow went flying. It was headed toward me, of course. 
“Mr. Naofumi!” 
Raphtalia called out to me, but I held my hand up to signal her not to worry. I snatched the arrow out of the air this time. 
“Shining Arrow!” 
Itsuki pulled the bowstring back even harder and a bright, shining arrow appeared. It would probably take some time to shoot that one. 
“Mr. Itsuki, your intentions have become clear. I am your opponent now. I will fight you with everything I have!” 
 
Rishia readied herself to face Itsuki. She held a hand to her blade. 
“Muso Activation!” 
The air around Rishia began swirling and created a vortex. Is that what Muso Activation was? This was on a completely different level than what Eclair had done. I knew it was the same skill thanks to Ren’s commentary, but this time I could clearly see something visibly jetting outward. 
“She’s absorbing life force from her surroundings. I’ve seen the master do it too. Rishia’s doing it the same way,” Atla explained. 
She was sensing the life force and trying to figure out how the technique worked. Atla could get stronger just by watching others fight. I was jealous. It made me feel bad for Fohl though. His little sister was a prodigy and yet he still had to prove himself stronger than her. 
“Haaah!” 
Rishia charged at Itsuki. Her speed was incredible. 
“Hengen Muso Small Sword Technique! Spiral Slash!” 
A flow of life force began spiraling out of Rishia’s sword. 
“Argh!” 
Itsuki must have realized that getting hit by that would have caused some damage, because he dodged by a hair’s breadth and then fired off his arrow. Why the hell did it curve around and come flying at me?! 
“Shooting Star Shield!” 
I cast Shooting Star Shield to generate a defensive barrier that would guard against Itsuki’s arrows. The shining arrow split into multiple arrows that rained down over me. Just to be safe, I held my shield up toward the arrows. I didn’t take any damage. I’d disabled any counterattack effects too. 
Rishia was right in front of him! He was supposed to be fighting her! Why the hell was he still aiming at me? 
“I won’t let you get away!” Rishia shouted. 
Itsuki had managed to launch his skill while dodging Rishia’s first attack, but she immediately followed up with more. They all seemed to be that same Spiral Slash attack. It was pretty incredible that she could use it so many times in a row. But the base stats of Itsuki’s curse series weapon must have been pretty high. He didn’t seem to take much damage even when Rishia’s attacks hit him. Even worse, his wounds were slowly regenerating. 
“If that’s all you’ve got you better not expect to be able to stop me!” 
Cursed, toxic fumes erupted from Itsuki, sending Rishia flying into the air. 
 
“Mr. Itsuki, you must not let that power consume you! I guarantee you will regret it!” Rishia yelled. 
“You are the one who will regret it! Now open your eyes to justice! Arrow Squall!” 
Itsuki’s arrow came flying in my direction. What a hassle. Judging by the name of the skill, it would probably turn into a rain of arrows. 
“Air Strike Shield!” 
I stopped the arrow before it multiplied. 
“I may be outnumbered, but as long as I defeat you, Naofumi, the victory is mine!” he shouted. 
Umm . . . He did know he was fighting Rishia one-on-one, right? On the contrary, he was the one choosing to attack the audience without provocation. Did he even feel like he was being driven back, in the first place? It wasn’t uncommon for the hero of a story to face countless enemies at once. Itsuki was probably imagining himself in a similar situation. 
Maybe he thought of Rishia as a soldier that I had sent after him or something. I would have guessed he thought of her as some frightened, little animal that screamed a lot. Either way, she was the obstacle directly in front of him. It only made sense to defeat her before coming after me. Even so, I would be fine just grabbing his arrows out of the air or using Float Shield, along with Ren and Raphtalia intercepting his attacks. 
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what justice means since meeting you, Mr. Itsuki.” 
“Evil has no place talking about justice!” 
“Evil? What is evil? What is justice?” 
Rishia continued trying to get through to Itsuki. I thought she was wasting her time, but it seemed important to her to try. I guess I’d just have to accept that and endure Itsuki’s vicious onslaught. 
“The only thing you consider justice is that which satisfies you personally! Am I wrong, Mr. Itsuki?! Do you really think that using force to suppress others is true justice?!” 
Rishia spoke from the heart. Her words moved Ren to join the conversation. 
“I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘Justice without power is empty, but power without justice is merely violence.’ Itsuki, you’ve always aspired to fight for justice, right? You never really talked about yourself much, and I never really cared to ask before. But I want to get to know you better now. I want to know what it is that you’re after and what it is that makes you suffer. So please tell me!” 
 
Itsuki continued to focus his attacks on me. It would be nice if Ren thought about my situation a little bit before giving a speech. Still, he did have a point. I had no idea what kind of person Itsuki was either. I understood his personality, but I had no idea what kind of life he had led before. What was it that made him go on and on about justice like this? 
“Justice is power. It’s proof of what is right. Rescue the weak! Crush the strong!” Itsuki shouted. 
Huh? Something suddenly hit me. I tried thinking about Itsuki’s behavior from the other way around. What if Itsuki had been filled with gloom and feelings of depression in his own world? 
It was clear that Itsuki wanted to be a hero. A lot of fictional superheroes had ordinary alter egos, or maybe they were someone that got bullied a lot. But then they would transform or put on a disguise and go out to defeat bad guys. Anyway, that’s how it was for most of the famous superheroes, like Superman or that spider guy. 
The more tyrannical types of players in online games were basically doing the same thing too. Itsuki was always trying dish out his justice in secret. So that was it. Fighting for justice did indeed mean using one’s power to save others. Put all of that together and you get the idea of rewarding the good and punishing the evil. Justice wins, and evil gets stomped out. 
“I don’t care if you or anyone else tries to call me evil! I fight for justice!” Itsuki went on. 
His thirst for recognition and his lofty ideals all added up to one conclusion. 
“Itsuki, the way you treated Rishia is no different than the way you were treated. That’s why you can’t bring yourself to face her, right?” I told him. 
“What?!” 
“This is a coliseum tournament. You’re a fighter in this tournament. If you want to fight me, then you have to defeat Rishia first. Otherwise, you have no right to challenge me.” 

I had to make the conditions clear now or Itsuki would just keep this up forever. If I was the evil that Itsuki wanted to defeat, then he could do that in our match. I’d seen this kind of thing happen in those battle-type anime and manga. Motoyasu had done something similar to me countless times since coming to this world too. He would challenge me to a fight after specifying conditions that made it completely one-sided. I didn’t have any reason to set conditions like that here, but I had promised to let Rishia handle this. 

“Damn it!” he grumbled. 
I knew it. This was just a guess, but Itsuki had most likely been bullied back in his own world. Rishia had the lowest status of his party members, and they had basically bullied her before running her off. In other words, Rishia’s very existence brought back unpleasant memories from the past for Itsuki. He thought he’d cut himself off from his past, but now the embodiment of who he was before was standing right there in his way. It created incontrovertible dissonance with his justice. 
“I see. Rishia is clearly brainwashed by your evil, but if I must defeat her, then I will.” 
Rishia turned to me and bowed her head deeply. 
“Thank you, Naofumi. Leave the rest to me. I will get through to Mr. Itsuki. You’ll see.” 
“No problem. That’s hard to believe, but I hope you do. You’ve come a long way, just like Eclair, so maybe you can pull it off like she did too.” 
I couldn’t bring myself to say anything more positive than that, but I actually thought pretty highly of Rishia. Everyone ridiculed her for being weak, but she never gave up. And she had the inner strength to stand up to an enemy even when they were far more powerful than her. 
Either way, it looked like Itsuki was finally prepared to accept Rishia as his opponent. Now the problem was what to do if she lost. I wasn’t sure what our best course of action would be if Rishia was defeated. But for the time being . . . 
“Let’s get the slaves out of here. They’ll just be in the way if we have to fight. Sadeena, S’yne, and Atla, I’m leaving the evacuation to you three.” 
“Sure thing, little Naofumi.” 
“Ok —— ” 
“Leave it to us!” 
I gave the order and had all of my shills removed. Itsuki, Rishia, Raphtalia, Ren, and I were the only ones left in the coliseum. But jeez, Rishia was hopeless. Did she really love Itsuki that much? 
“Here I come! Haaaaah!” 
Rishia closed in on Itsuki rapidly. 
“Ugh! Saint Arrow Rain! Spread Strafing!” 
Itsuki backstepped away from Rishia and shot several arrows at her. He carefully timed it so that the arrows he’d already shot up into the air came raining down toward her just as he shot another straight at her. It would be difficult to dodge them all. 
 
“Hengen Muso Small Sword Technique! Circle!” 
Rishia spun her small sword around in a circle. A shrill noise rang out and all of the arrows were deflected. Both of them seemed to be holding back, but Rishia was holding her own, despite the fact that Itsuki was a hero. Was this the true power of the Hengen Muso style? Eclair mentioned that Rishia had mastered even more difficult techniques than she had. Rishia was definitely a force to be reckoned with now. 
Seeing all of his arrows knocked out of the air, Itsuki glared at Rishia with an annoyed look on his face. 
“Mr. Itsuki, I am your opponent right now. You’re getting distracted.” 
Itsuki kept glancing over at me every now and then. He considered Rishia to be nothing more than a checkpoint he had to pass to fight me. But he wouldn’t be able to defeat her with that mindset. Rishia was one of my top fighters, whether we were talking about stats, technique, or resolve. 
“Hmph . . . You’ve become quite brash, haven’t you, Rishia? But do you really think I’ve been fighting seriously?” 
A sinister aura radiated from Itsuki as he raised his bow. 
“Law Fanatic!” 
I felt some kind of barrier develop around Itsuki abruptly. He let out a wild howl and his eyes began to glow an eerie red. The sinister aura condensed around him and transformed into a full suit of armor. At first glance, it looked like a holy set of armor meant to resemble a winged angel. But I could also see decorative elements of the design that looked like horns and demons in several places. 
The skill boosted his own stats. There was no doubt about that. On top of that, it formed some kind of pseudo-armor. It was a full suit of battle armor like you’d see in Power Rangers or Kamen Rider. 
Rishia just stood there silently, waiting for Itsuki to attack. Her expression couldn’t have been more serious. If anyone tried to interfere, I was sure Rishia would never forgive them. Ren was fidgeting and edging forward like he wanted to give her a hand, so I held my hand out to stop him. 
“Here I come, Rishia. Once I’m finished, you will realize that I am right, and then we can defeat Naofumi together!” 
“I will not. I will never accept you the way that you are now, Mr. Itsuki. 
 
Even if it costs me my life!” 
Rishia thrust her small sword into the ground and crouched down low. What was she doing? She was gathering up so much life force from the earth that I could visibly see it. Her small sword was completely enshrouded in life force now. 
“Hengen Muso . . . Secret Technique, First Form . . .” 
Rishia plucked the small sword from the ground and dashed toward Itsuki. 
“Sun!” 
Rishia began radiating light as she thrust her small sword at Itsuki. Something about the technique . . . It seemed like some kind of divine ultra-power-up. 
“Shooting Star Bow!” 
Itsuki fired off his version of the Shooting Star skill that us heroes all loved so much. His was particularly annoying. When he used it, his arrows left a trail of stars flying around in the air behind them. It was safe to assume that the arrows themselves were pretty dangerous too. 
“Second Form! Moon!” 
The light that was surrounding Rishia intensified. It formed a crescent-moon shape that shot out and cut down Itsuki’s arrows. Itsuki had a look of disbelief on his face, having just seen his finishing move quashed. 
“I’m not done! I still haven’t shown you everything I have!” he shouted. 
Then what the hell are you waiting for?! 
Ren had said something like that too. I reflexively glanced over at Ren and he averted his eyes in embarrassment. 
“Third Form! Star!” 
Rishia closed in on Itsuki rapidly. When she was mere inches away, she released a barrage of thrusts. Eclair’s Multistrike Demolition skill seemed to last forever, but Rishia’s string of attacks would give it a run for its money. With each single thrust, another piece of the armor protecting Itsuki broke away and disappeared. 
“Argh . . .” 
Rishia kept thrusting at Itsuki. It seemed like the attacks would never end. And I’m sure each one of them was fortified with life force. I couldn’t really tell just by watching, but the attacks made a distinct, sharp thwacking sound. Those attacks were no joke. I had no doubt about that, because I was the Shield Hero and just seeing them made me cringe. 
 
“Enough!” Itsuki thundered. 
His sinister aura exploded outward and sent Rishia flying through the air. 
“Feh —I’m not finished!” 
Rishia took a defensive stance while still in the air to soften her fall. After landing, she steadied her breathing and prepared to resume her attacks. 
“There’s no way that someone like you could possibly thwart justice, Rishia! Don’t interfere with my finishing moves!” 
What the hell? Was he seriously telling her not to fight back? This wasn’t a turn-based RPG, for crying out loud. On the contrary, overcoming the enemy’s finishing moves was the key to progressing in something like an action game. 
Ah, that must have been it. In a superhero-type setting, the bad guys would always basically just wait for the superhero’s finishing move. Laser beams, a super kick, or five people combining their weapons to fire off a special attack, for example. 
“Mr. Itsuki, stop this already. Your justice is flawed! Please, relinquish that power before it’s too late!” 
Rishia’s sounded emotional as she forcefully admonished Itsuki. The battle did seem to be pretty one-sided in Rishia’s favor. It wasn’t like when Eclair fought Ren. Itsuki was actually taking damage. 
“You’re wrong! I . . . will use this new power . . . to save . . . the world!” 
Itsuki’s bow began to change shape. I could see the sinister aura around him change color in response. He’d most likely unlocked another curse series, just like Ren and Motoyasu had done. Even Rishia might be at a disadvantage against Itsuki if he’d powered up his weapon and unlocked multiple curse series. From the looks of it, it didn’t seem like he’d implemented all of the power-up methods like Motoyasu had, but I couldn’t say for sure. 
“Are you going to be okay, Rishia?” I asked. 
“Yes. I don’t need assistance.” 
“Alright. Whatever works for you.” 
Depending on the situation, I might have to step in. But if Rishia said she was fine, then I’d just keep watching for now. We were all on the edge of our seats as we watched the situation unfold. 

The thing was, it seemed unlikely that Itsuki would pass out like Ren had. No matter how pathetic he had become, he was still a hero, I guess. But Rishia still lacked a decisive blow that could end the battle, just like Eclair had. 

“Take this! Shadow Bind!” 
Itsuki aimed at Rishia’s feet and shot his arrow. The name of the skill gave me a really bad feeling. 
“Rishia—” 
The arrow didn’t hit her. It landed behind her. 
“My . . . my body!” 
Before I could warn Rishia, she had been paralyzed. Just as I expected. If the arrow landed on an opponent’s shadow, the skill would restrict their movement. 
“Bind Arrow!” 
Rishia already couldn’t move, but Itsuki shot another binding skill at her. When the arrow reached her, it stitched her body to the ground. 
“I . . . I still haven’t lost!” 
“Wrong! You’re finished!” 
“Let this foolish sinner pay for her transgressions with her being roasted to death in a brazen bull! Let her writhe in pain as her dying screams are converted into the cries of a raging bull!” 
“Bull of Phalaris!” 
It reminded me of my Iron Maiden. A bull-shaped statue appeared, and its belly opened up and closed around Rishia, trapping her inside. Then the belly was engulfed in raging flames. 
“Rishia!” I screamed. 
Itsuki was confident he had won. A grin crept across his face. There was no doubt about it. That skill was the equivalent of my Iron Maiden. 
“Victory is mine. Now, Naofumi, prepare to meet your doom.” 
Damn it. I’d thought Rishia might be able to win, but I guess I was being overly optimistic. I needed to figure out how to rescue Rishia before anything else. Ren took off running in her direction without hesitation. But then, all of a sudden, cracks began to form on the surface of the bull that Itsuki had summoned. 
“Huh?” 
Itsuki had a look of disbelief on his face. A sharp cracking sound rang out and the bull shattered. Rishia leapt out. 
“Fourth Form! Demon!” 
Rishia closed in on Itsuki again and swiped her small sword at him. 
 
What was that? The tip of her sword was glowing, but it left a trail of 
darkness in its path. 
“Ugh . . . My . . . my eyes!” 
Itsuki covered his face with both hands and started groaning. The attack must have had a blinding effect. 
“Don’t think you’ve won just yet!” Rishia shouted. 
She was breathing hard. Rishi had managed to surmount a skill named after an instrument of execution. Her growth was truly amazing. Incredible. I had no idea that someone who wasn’t a hero could become so strong. That pathetic, little Rishia who was ditched by Itsuki finally got to show him how much she had grown. 
“How long . . . How long do you plan to stand in my way?!” 
Itsuki screamed at Rishia while rubbing his eyes. 
“This is absolutely unforgivable! I am justice! To think you would cause me this much trouble! You’re nothing but the opening act! You’ve overstepped your boundaries!” 
Itsuki’s bow took on an even more bizarre form. What had been white wings turned into demonic-looking bat wings. 
“Die . . . All who defy me . . . must die!” 
“Mr. Itsuki, I’ll say it again. Relinquish that power before it’s too late. Return to your normal self. You must not rely on that power!” 
Rishia was crying now. She was crying because the person she loved was being consumed by corruption and she was watching it happen. She believed she had enough power now to stop it, and that’s why she was fighting. But to Itsuki, she had become nothing more than another target of his hatred. 
“For justice! Die! This world . . . is defiled by . . . your evil!” 
Itsuki jerked the bowstring backward ridiculously hard and let go. A barrage of arrows went flying toward Rishia. She knocked them all out of the air, but then I suddenly heard a sound that I knew was bad. 
“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia shouted. 
“I know!” 
It was the sound of Rishia’s small sword—the Pekkul Rapier—snapping in two. She was still swinging the broken sword around . . . and using her life force to replace the missing piece of the blade. But the prolonged use of life force to replace a physical object like that was extremely difficult. I pulled a sword drop out of my shield and threw it to Rishia. 
 
“Rishia! You’re at a disadvantage like that! Use this sword!” 
But Rishia ignored the sword I had thrown and continued her exchange with Itsuki. 
“I’m sorry, Naofumi. That . . . would go against my sense of justice!” 
Itsuki had a crazy look in his eyes. He smiled. 
“What are you smiling about? Mr. Itsuki, I haven’t been defeated yet.” 
“How can you say that? You’ve already lost.” 
“No. You told me once, Mr. Itsuki, that justice never gives up.” 
“Heh heh heh . . . Fool. You . . . are evil.” 
“Mr. Itsuki, I will never give up, no matter how painful or hopeless things may become. You taught me that when you rescued me from despair, Mr. Itsuki. And Naofumi showed me the same thing too!” 
Rishia calmed herself and steadied her breathing. I could tell from her stance that she was about to cast a spell. I guess she decided that she would use magic, since her sword was broken. She wasn’t going to cheat, and she wasn’t going to give up. That was the mindset she had. Her growth . . . I don’t know why, but it made me feel really proud that such a completely hopeless girl could change so much. It surprised even me. It reminded me of the saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” 
“I’ll say it again. Mr. Itsuki, I beg of you, relinquish that power. Then you can start over and regain the trust of the people of this world by fighting for them!” 
“Why should I relinquish this power?! I . . . I will use this power to save the world!” 
“Mr. Itsuki! I can say with certainty that your justice is flawed! After being at Naofumi’s side and watching him fight, I am confident of that! Naofumi fights even to save the inhabitants of other worlds! He stands at the forefront to protect everyone, no matter what!” 
“Silence, evil! Be gone!” Itsuki shouted. 
And then it happened. None of us could believe our eyes. This was on a totally different level than anything like Rishia’s growth, strength, or Hengen Muso techniques. 
Itsuki’s bow began to glow intensely. The brightness forced even Itsuki to close his eyes. I could see all of this because I was watching from a distance. And then the light sprang forward from the bow and flew at Rishia. It had happened too quickly for her to dodge. The light hit her. But she was completely uninjured. The light from Itsuki’s bow had leapt into the palm of Rishia’s hand. 
 
And then, for whatever reason, Rishia’s slave curse icon shattered and disappeared from my status screen. 
“What . . . was that?” I muttered. 
“Mr. Naofumi.” 
“Oh, hey, Atla. Is the evacuation complete?” 
“Yes. But more importantly, Mr. Naofumi . . .” 
Atla was gazing in Itsuki’s direction. 
“Inside of that sinister aura was a bright, pure flow of power that leapt toward Rishia.” 
“Pure? Do the legendary weapons have some kind of power that we still don’t know about?” 
It was clear that some kind of power had jumped from the bow to Rishia. I guess that meant we could assume that Itsuki’s bow had lent Rishia its power. 
“Rishia?” 
Ren called out to Rishia. 
“This is . . .” 
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Rishia was holding a knife in her hand. It was shaped like an ordinary knife, but it had a flashy jewel set in the handle. It was semi-transparent, and its form seemed to waver. Was it some kind of magically formed, unstable weapon? What was it? 
Rishia held her other hand to the blade of the knife and it transformed into one of those kunai weapons that ninjas used. Then it turned into a boomerang. So it could change shape like the legendary weapons. What in the world was it? 
“Wh . . . what in the world is happening?!” Itsuki shouted. 
Even he had no idea what was going on. At the very least, Itsuki didn’t seem to be behind whatever had happened. 
“I see now. I understand.” 
A look of realization came across Rishia’s face. She pointed the boomerang at Itsuki and spoke confidently. 
“Mr. Itsuki. Even the legendary bow can no longer accept your justice. It has lent me its power so that I may stop you!” 
“Lies! That can’t be! My bow would never betray me!” 
“I will use this power to stop you!” 
“Stop screwing around!” 
 
The sinister aura overflowing from Itsuki’s bow intensified. He drew the bowstring backward powerfully and an inordinate number of arrows launched toward Rishia. The fletchings of the arrows were shaped like angel and demon wings. The mass of arrows transformed into the shape of a bear as they shot through the air toward Rishia. 
“Hengen Muso Throwing Technique! Rolling Spin!” 
Rishia channeled her life force into the weapon and then threw it at Itsuki. 
“Wha—Why?! I am absolute justice! Why do you still persist in defying me?! Gah!” 
The boomerang spun around Itsuki and sliced at him. 
“You’re wrong, Mr. Itsuki. You’re wrong, and your bow is trying to correct that.” 
Rishia held her right hand up into the air and the boomerang returned to her. Then she transformed it into a chakram. She blinked slowly, and it looked like her eyes changed color ever so slightly. She was drawing life force into her eyes. 
“I can see everything clearly now. I see the flow of power that is tightening around you, Mr. Itsuki. I see the parasitic power leeching off of your bow. And now that I can see it . . .” 
Rishia threw the weapon at Itsuki. 
“Air Strike Throw! Second Throw! Dritte Throw!” 
Air Strike? I was pretty sure only the legendary weapons had skills that used that name. Did that mean she was using a legendary weapon? Or maybe it was a seven star hero weapon. Rishia had thrown a different weapon for each of her three skills. There was a knife, a hatchet, and a short spear. 
Just what kind of weapon was it? Even assuming it was a seven star hero weapon, the spear belonged to Motoyasu. None of the three weapons she threw even belonged to the same category. Or maybe . . . She’d thrown them all, so maybe it was a throwing weapon. 
“Tornado . . . Throw!” 
The three weapons started spinning around Itsuki. They created a vortex that was blowing the sinister aura away from him. 
“Gaaaahhhhh!” 
The chakram appeared back in Rishia’s hand and she launched it at Itsuki’s bow. 
“Mr. Itsuki, this proves that you are not justice. Now please, let’s start over and do things the right way.” 
 
The chakram smashed into Itsuki’s bow and a loud cracking sound rang out. The chakram returned to Rishia’s hand. And then, with the sound of breaking glass, the armor-like outer layer of Itsuki’s bow shattered and fell away. When it did, the announcer that had been brainwashed by Itsuki crumpled to the ground, like a marionette whose strings had been cut. 
“Gahhh! My . . . my new power . . . the power of salvation . . .” 
“I’ll say it again. You’re mistaken. Mr. Itsuki, please try to understand. There is no one justice. There are as many ‘justices’ as there are people. The opposite of justice is not evil. It’s justice. The losing side is simply branded as evil. That is all.” 
“No! I . . . I’m not evil! There’s no way I could be evil! It’s everyone else . . . It’s them!” 
“Blaming others and rejecting others is easy, even without justice. But the important thing is to accept others. Anyone can change for the better, no matter what kind of person they might be. I believe that.” 
Itsuki sounded like he was about to cry. The bizarre shape of his bow had dissolved away, and the bow returned to its usual . . . No, I could still see several of the odd designs on it. 
“What do you think, Atla?” 
“Well, Rishia used that power in her hand to eliminate the sinister aura. However, the roots of the sinister force remain.” 
“I . . . I have to . . . for the people that believed in me . . .” 
Itsuki hadn’t given up. He stood back up. He sure was stubborn. Just then, one of the slave trader’s assistants came and whispered something into my ear. 
“I see . . . Itsuki, we figured out where you’ve been hiding. I’m going to leave you here and go check that out. There’s no reason I should have to waste my time fighting some noob that can’t even stand up to Rishia.” 
I’d had the slave trader’s assistants and some people from Zeltoble’s underground guild work together to figure out where Itsuki was staying. They’d dug up enough evidence to be confident they’d found the place. Now all that was left was for me to barge in and capture Itsuki’s accomplices. 
“I won’t let you!” 
Hmm . . . This could be a good chance to show him how things really were. 
“Itsuki, I guess I can show you a shred of mercy.” 
 
“What?!” 
“You say your companions are just. Then take me to them. I already know the location, but I want you to lead the way.” 
“I’m not falling for that! That’s how you plan to capture Princess Malty, isn’t it?!” 
“Itsuki! You’ll never know the truth if you only listen to one side of the story! Is that what you call justice?!” Ren interjected. 
“I . . . That . . .” 
Itsuki tried to reply but stumbled over his words. I’m sure he was in a state of emotional shock after losing to Rishia. 
“Think about the games you played back in your world. I’m sure there was some kind of event where you had to decide which side was right and which was wrong, right?” 
“. . .” 
I was showing him that I was sincere. Itsuki seemed to be trying to decide whether he should compromise. Actually, deep down, he probably knew that I was right. Regardless, I guess it would still be hard to bring himself to just casually lead the enemy straight to his own base. 
But why had Witch betrayed Motoyasu, deceived Ren, and then run away anyway? I still didn’t know what her motives were. 
“Itsuki, Witch is a criminal. Shouldn’t she have to pay for her crimes? Or prove her innocence? Or are you going to say that winning a fight to the death is the only valid proof of justice?” 
“No . . . That’s not it!” 
“She can even have a trial or something. If Witch is really doing good on behalf of the country, I’m sure the queen will show tolerance.” 
If Itsuki felt like he had been deceived and fell into despair, he’d most likely unlock another curse series and go on a rampage, like Ren did. I was pretty sure he hadn’t fired off a bunch of curse series skills yet. We needed to intervene before he really hurt himself. 
I looked over at Rishia. Right now, there was still a chance that Itsuki would listen. She needed to save him before he completely lost all hope, like Ren had. That’s what I told Rishia with my eyes, and she nodded back at me. 
“Fine then. I’ll prove Princess Malty and the rest of my companions’ innocence!” 
Itsuki agreed to stop the fight and take us to his hideout.