Here is the last chapter that I have ready for now. Enjoy.
The Preceding Hero, Becomes Smaller
「Wha, what did you doー!」
How could this loli Vampire do such a thing? I don"t know what trick she pulled but she made me……she made me young enough to be an elementary school brat!
「Kiki! Tis but an application of my secret art.」
「Wh, why you……How dare you make me have this kind of appearance!」
I didn"t want to fight her since she had the appearance of a little girl, but it seems that she needs to get a bit of a scolding.
Kicking up my fourth dimensional pouch, which had been wrapped around my waist but had now fallen now that my body had become smaller, with my shoes that had become too big for me, I stuck my hand into the pouch and pulled out a crystal sword.
「If you return me back to normal right now, I"ll forgive you. ……But if you don"t.」
「Kiki. ……If I don"t?」
When I remove the scabbard by making it fall off since it was too difficult to draw the sword from the scabbard, I pointed the sword tip at Paimon.
Yet, despite having the sword tip pointed towards her, Paimon didn"t change her composed looking face.
「Then……Be prepared to lose an arm to, uoh!?」
When I tried to rush in and swing my sword, the sword slipped out of my hands, and it got stuck into the ceiling.
The cause of it was that the size of the sword"s handle was hard to grip with the hands of a child.
「If you wish to restore that body to normal, then come to my location. ……I shall be waiting, one of the miko lineage! Kiki, kikikiki!!」
When she left those words with us, Paimon turned into countless bats and went into the labyrinth"s entrance and left.
「……Wh, what the heck was that.」
Suddenly appearing, then suddenly leaving. Moreover, throwing in a freebie of turning a person into a child.
I do think that this kind of outrageous thing really is very Mazoku-like though……
「Still……We"ve made another reason to dive into the labyrinth.」
As I muttered that while cracking my neck, *Pon*, a hand was placed on my shoulder.
「Nn?」
「Th, there"s no need to return you to normal, Yashiro-san!」
「……Haa?」
When I turn my head, there was a cheeks dyed red and rough nasal breathing Bernadette standing there.
……Erm……Huh? That"s Bernadette, right? It"s not a mistake in my vision or something, right?
「Be, Bernadette-san? What in the world is wrong with you? Ah, come to think of it, it looks like the hypnotism was remov──」
「Haa…Haah……, ……Please try saying……O, Onee-chan.」
You just now lost that something that you were recently building up.
R, rather, what"s going on? This Bernadette"s strange condition……Could it be that some kind of charm was invoked now that my body became like this or something!?
「Fiona! Am I cool!?」
「……Ha? What kind of foolish thing are you saying now?」
Alright, going by this reaction, it would seem that a charm wasn"t invoked or anything.
Rather, since it was a joke, don"t look at me with those cold eyes that look like you"re looking a pig from a pig farm.
「Uwahー, uwahー! Yashiro-san, Yashiro-san! You are really cute! Yashiro-san, I thought that you were more of a plain-faced, impure eyed person, but when you were small, you were really cute, weren"t you!」
「Could you please stop gouging out a person"s heart with a face that is nothing but smiles!? R, rather, get away from me! You"re character has become stran-mofuu!?」
「Iーdon"tーwantーto! Ahaha! I"m so happy since it"s like I just got a cute little brother!」
Th, this girl, treating a person like some toy……B, but, being held in between these huge b.r.e.a.s.t.s when being hugged sure is nice. It"s really comfortable…………Wait, what the heck am I thinking.
「K, Kuon! Help me out, d.a.m.n it!」
「Ahー, nevertheless, what should we do? Diving in like this……We can"t possibly do that, can we?」
When I called out to the dumbfounded Kuon while I was struggling within Bernadette"s arms, Kuon turned her eyes away from me while scratching her cheek, and started to talk with Fiona.
Look here, I"m your Shishou, aren"t I? I"m, technically your Shishou, right?
「That is correct. At the very least, it is currently impossible. It"s questionable as to how much Yuu can fight after all……It would seem that the Transfer Magic Formation that I spread out earlier has lost its ability to function……No, it looks like the magic formation has vanished.」
Hey, since it looks like there"s a serious conversation going on right now, let go of me, Bernadette!
「Three Stooges, lend me a hand!」
「Fu fu fu fu fu. ……Looks like the Black Hair that harshly got in our way now has an awfully adorable appearance now! You should just get loved by that Sister as much as possible. It"s that thing called getting what you deserve!」
「「What you deserve!」」
「These guys……」
d.a.m.n it, each and every one of them are useless!
「Yuu, how long are you going to be playing around, we"re temporarily leaving for now. ……Good grief, thanks to a certain someone, all we did is pa.s.s time.」
「It"s not like I"m playing aroundー! Rather, that someone isn"t about meーright!」
Fiona went back to the road we came on and Kuon and the Three Stooges followed her.
Hey, d.a.m.n it, I"m telling you guys to do something about Bernadette!
「Si, Silber!」
「Kukehー」
Ah! You, wait, don"t ignore me, who is technically your master!
「Ah, that"s right. We need to buy Yashiro-san some new Western-style clothes. Though, it would be nice if there are some cute clothes.」
「It"s true that the clothes that I came with up until now no longer fit my size. But, however! I"m absolutely not going to wear something like cute clothes, got that!?」
「Ufufu, please leave it all to Bernadette-onee-chan! First, I need to get the measurements……」
「Wait, you, where are you touching……Ahーッ!」
Today, on this day, I tasted a feeling of despair as if I had lost something precious.
The next day, we had gathered at the bar once again, but there was one person that we weren"t used to seeing that was present.
「Hawaa……You really did get smaller. Like this, you certainly won"t be able to wield a sword with one hand.」
It was the woman blacksmith whose height was so short that it was abnormal, Ahato.
……No, even though I was made to have the appearance of a child, I"m still bigger than you, you know? I wonder if I should properly tell her that?
「Aniki is still tall than you though.」
Kuon, who was sitting in a chair, spoke in my place.
Having been made to wait even though she thought that we would be diving into the Dungeon, it looks like she"s in a bad mood.
「Th, that"s because I"m a Dwarf.」
Ahー, so she really was a Dwarf. Among the species, the ones that had short height and specialized in work dealing with iron were Dwarfs and Hobbits.
Both specialized in doing finely detailed work, but of the blacksmiths that start with swords, an overwhelmingly large amount of them were Dwarfs (there are some Hobbit blacksmiths).
「So, why is Ahato-san the Dwarf here?」
Bernadette"s voice came from right above me. However, even if I were to look up, I wouldn"t see her face. It was because her voluptuous b.r.e.a.s.t.s would obstruct my vision. ……I think that one of the advantages to becoming smaller is that things feel bigger in a bodily sense.
Thanks to that advantage, Bernadette"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s which were originally big look even bigger.
Huge intensity. Nothing better than this one phrase.
And then, this was an advantage that only applied to Bernadette but, it seemed that this Bernadette had a shotacon inclination and was thoroughly sweet with me now that I had become small.
If I were to do a certain special something from being aroused by the weight of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s that were placed on top of my head, I originally would"ve had a gun muzzle thrusted at me.
But, when the current me did it, Bernadette didn"t refuse it. Rather, she"d hug me and give a service where she would instead embrace me with her body that felt great!
……To be honest, I"m starting to think that it might be alright to stay with this appearance.
「I received a request from Fiona-san to contrive a weapon that looked like an acquaintance of hers that became smaller could use.」
When Ahato turned away and peeked over, Fiona, who was gazing at the labyrinth map, raised her head.
「Her skill is the genuine article. I"ll vouch for her.」
「……Is the thing about Elves and Dwarves not getting along something that I remembered wrong?」
Alternately looking at Fiona and Ahato, Angelica made a wry smile.
Just as Angelica said, the fact that the Elf and Dwarf races were on absurdly bad terms with each other was very well known.
Although it"s not like they"ve gone to war with each other, but things similar to skirmishes always happen, and it was bad enough that if they were to b.u.mp into each other in town, a large-scale brawl would breakout.
……So, since I had also recognized that fact, I was surprised by the two"s words.
「That kind of thinking just nonsense of the countryside Elves that don"t come out from deep in the forest. In this day and age, looking down on someone just because they"re a Dwarf or a Human, and being immersed in self-satisfaction from it is just primitive.」
Ahato made a small laugh due to Fiona who declared something wholly unexpected.
「Maybe because I was raised by my grandfather that lived in a human town, I wasn"t really exposed to that kind of stuff. He was a grandfather that would say 『Other than the ones that you can entrust the swords you forged with, they"re all the same! 』.」
That"s also quite the stereotypical craftsman.
Would it be a better image if I were to say it was a template?
「We"ve gone off topic, haven"t we. ……So, do you have a weapon that Yuu might be able to use?」
Fiona peeked over and looked at me.
My body right now was a small size of the average elementary school child.
In regards to physical strength, though I have been weakened, since I"m far superior to an ordinary person even in this state, I could probably wield a weapon with ease if it"s your average weapon.
However, if it"s not a weapon that a child"s palm can firmly grip, it"ll be a repeat of what happened with the crystal sword.
「Yes. I had tried considering various things, but I still think that something like a long sword would be a safe bet.」
What she took out while saying that was a sword with a sword blade that looked like it was cut out of ice.
「A Magic Sword created from an Ice Magic Stone, its name is 『Ice Sword』! Here, take a look!」
I"ve obtained the Ice Sword I"ve always wanted!
……It was a simple name that was just as it looked, but its performance was really something.
When I came down from Bernadette"s lap, I accepted the Ice Sword.
「……It"s lighter than I expected. Is it Cost Down?」
「That is correct.」
When I took my stance holding the handle with both hands, it felt like a large sword due to my physique, but contrary to its appearance, it was light, making it have a weight that felt like I shouldn"t wield it.
「So it has the impression of cutting things up with its specialized sharpness than cutting things down with its weight……It"s a good sword but since it seems like it"ll be stolen, I"ll pa.s.s.」
「Is it not to your liking?」
「It"s not that I don"t like it, but……Th, that"s it. Do you have something a bit st.u.r.dier? I can"t help but feel scared since it feels like it would break.」
「In that case, how about this……A Magic Sword made from the tailbone of a Demon Dragon that made a volcano its stronghold, its name is 『Voltaire』!」
What she handed over next was a single bladed sword made from the bones of a dragon.
Bone weapons should not be made light of. Sword blades produced by sharpening a bone could easily cut the skin just by lightly tracing the finger down it and make blood ooze out.
Since it was an established theory that dragons" bones were st.u.r.dy, this sword looked like it would be fine even if I handled it somewhat roughly.
……That"s what I thought but,
「Whoa!? ……F, flames?」
*Boh!* Swinging it only a little, flames that looked like it could engulf a whole person flared up from the Magic Sword.
「Ahaha……J, just by lightly swinging it, flames came out.」
Isn"t this is just a failed creation!? If I were to wield something like this, I"d be the one burned from using it!
「If, if at all possible, I"d like to request a sword that has little to no special abilities……」
It"s not like I"m seeking a Magic Sword after all. If it has high durability and is easy to handle, then that"s fine.
「In that case, it"s not something that I"ve forged but……」
From the bundle of swords that she carried, she handed over a sword sheathed in a dirty, worn out-looking scabbard.
「Nn? ……This scabbard, is it made to open up?」
「It"s made so that when you put it on your waist, by undoing the latch, the sword will "fall out".」
There was a simple latch attached to the scabbard she handed over, and when I unfastened that, the scabbard opened up like an attache case would and the sword was displayed.
The sword"s width was somewhat short but it had thickness to it, and when I tried holding it with both hands, it fit really well with my hands.
「This is……a good sword.」
The well-polished sword blade reflected my face, and slowly shined.
It was a bit plainly ornamented, but how it was made to exclude the useless things made it have a favorable impression.
……Yup. This is the one. I"ll take this one.
Deciding that, I was about to put it back into the scabbard while thinking about how much the price would be for this sword but,
「……Just when I thought I"d come back out to this corrupt world after a long time, I didn"t think that I"d be held by a youngster like this one. Oi, s.h.i.tty brat, I"m not a sword that should be held in the hands of someone like you! Put up with some other sword!」
from the held out sword, a voice that was insulting me resounded.
「A, a sword endowed with intelligence, an Intelligence Sword!?」
That"s right, this sword was different even among Magic Swords. It was a talking sword that possessed intelligence comparable to the average person.