Hey guys. I don’t really have much to say this time so please enjoy.

The Preceding Hero and the Heroic Tale

「Like I said! You"ve got it wrong! B-by no means did I peek at you with shameless thoughts!」
「Ah~, yeah. I told you, it"s alright. Look, Bernadette, you"re same age as me, right? Being interested in the bodies of the opposite s.e.x is very understandable. That"s why you shouldn"t let it bother you!」
「Uwah~n! It"s totally not alright!」

A short while after being seen doing the independent training that I do early in the morning, even though it had already become the time to get the inn"s breakfast, Bernadette was still continuing her explanation of the peeking scandal.
Her appearance of getting fl.u.s.tered with a bright red face was careless and cute. And so, I went and overdid it but……

「Hahaha. Yuu, wouldn"t it be alright to just forgive her already?」

I think that it"s a bit strange for the perpetrator that started the Bernadette teasing to be taking that side, you know?

「Well, that"s true. It"s about time we get to the main question. ……Jean, you have a relationship with Vodan-san, don"t you.」

Since I noticed that Bernadette"s voltage was at its MAX, I"ll change the subject.
When I asked that, Jean grinned with a meaningless pretty boy face. This silence is very much like him.

「Why didn"t you just let us meet with him? If you were acquainted with Vodan-san, this could have all finished without the roundabout way of appearing in the Magic Clad Martial Arts Demonstration.」
「Hahaha. ……To be completely honest, there is no reason more important than the kidnapping problem that you mentioned, Yuu.」
「But, for you, it was something more important than something like "kidnapping", right?」
「Of course.」

He Jean Jacquez Eustace that I knew was a guy that was more human than anyone else. Just because that true nature of his was not evil, he was a guy that was more selfish and self-centered than anyone else.

「You never change, do you.」
「And for you, you"ve changed a bit. If it was before, this is where you would have snarled at me. ……You"ve grown up, is that what I should be saying?」
「Don"t poke fun at me.」

Though, it is true that I"m no longer at an age where I"ll brandish a sword for justice or whatever nonsensical thing.

「Eh, eh? Wh, what does that mean?」

Bernadette had listened to our conversation and asked me because she didn"t understand at all but,

「Probably, Vodan-san"s ……Kuon, was it? If we meet with him, we"ll understand, won"t we?」
「That"s it exactly.」

I don"t understand it well either.

「「「Welcome, we"ve been expecting you!!」」」
「Wh, why thank you very much for that.」

What was waiting for us at the Vodan estate was a bunch of Heleott group members that amounted to dozens of people!
The wolf tribesmen, whose faces were scary enough that they could make normal thugs scurry home just by glaring at them, greeted us with several people.
……Uwah, they"re totally glaring at us. Scary, that"s really scary.

「But Gilley has intensity to him, right?」
「No, well, that"s true.」

Just as Jean said in a small voice, Gilley-Ossan had a much sterner face than these people, and also had ambition.

「But even though he does, why did he get married to such a beautiful woman……」
「My thoughts exactly.」

I know that Gilley-Ossan isn"t a bad guy.
But I really don"t get the reason why he was able to get married with that face of his.
I guess Mareeda-san really is someone that surpa.s.sed being a G.o.ddess.

「Both of you, that"s really rude……」

Bernadette, who more or less knew of Gilley-Ossan, made a sigh while criticizing us.

「Hahaha. Well, let"s leave our talk about Gilley for another time. ……Where would Kuon-kun be?」
「In the training hall!」
「I see. Thank you.」

Having finished up the conversation, when Jean asked the members, the members that opened up a path bowed their heads again.
Jean……You, what in the world is up with this VIP treatment.

When we walked for a bit, beside the princ.i.p.al residence-looking building, there was a very splendid j.a.panese style……Oi oi, why is there a tiled roof dojo that doesn"t seem like it"s around anymore in modern j.a.pan erected here in this other world of Reynbrook?

「……Fumu, so, as expected, we were noticed.」

As I looked at the dojo and was lightly surprised, Jean, who was next to me, muttered seeming somewhat happy.

「By "we were noticed"……By what?」
「Since a lot of people came, our arrival was noticed by Kuon-kun who is in the dojo. Goodness, though we weren"t erasing our presence, that"s amazing.」
「Oi oi, we"re still at a pretty far distance, you know? To notice us just by our presence is……」
「Your hearing ability is plenty abnormal, you know?」
「You idiot, this is a bad occasion to be "comparing" it with mine.」

My five senses were acquired but they greatly surpa.s.s those of ordinary people.
I possess senses that are at animal level, no, even greater than that.
To compete with my hearing ability and not be inferior is strange to begin with.

「What are you talking about?」
「Nn. It"s nothing.」

Bernadette tilted her head from seeing us quarrelling with small voices. Naturally I couldn"t just answer her with the truth, I answered like that and when I did, Bernadette pointed her finger at me.

「That"s a lie, isn"t it! Yashiro-san, whenever you lie, blood vessels rise to the surface at the tip of your nose after all!」

What kind of Stand-user are you.

If I were to take a surprised att.i.tude and touch my nose here, Bernadette would probably make a ruckus and say 「You fell for it!」 or something. However, I naturally don"t have that kind of habit. (Though, according to Sylvia, my eyes do seem to swim.）
d.a.m.n you, to try and make me fall for that even though you"re just Bernadette……Unforgivable!

「Same to you, whenever you lie, your ears twitch.」
「Eh!? Is, is that true!?」
「Ahh, of course it"s a lie. But I did discover a blockheaded Sister that gets fooled when she tries to fool someone else.」
「Wha……Th, that"s not fair, Yashiro-san! G, give me another chance!」
「What do you mean "chance", stupid.」

When I ignored the noisy Bernadette and continued on, I saw the figure of a fox-eared blonde, Vodan-shi"s son, Kuon Heleott, waiting at the dojo in a seiza position.

「……? That person, he"s sitting in a strange position, isn"t he.」

Are you pointing out the seiza? When Bernadette muttered that, Jean did a small smile.

「If I"m not mistaken, wasn"t that called seiza?」
「……That"s right, but why are you looking at me?」
「It"s because whenever you were getting scolded, you"d always go into that sitting position, whoa.」

*Pukususu*. Getting in a kick at the back of Jean"s knees, who was holding in a laugh while reminiscing, I stood in front of the dojo"s porch while I knocked him down.

「Is it correct to interpret that I take my shoes off?」
「Hee……So you also know of the manners of the training room.」

When I asked, Kuon Heleott muttered as if he were interested.

「Write down that shoes aren"t allowed.」

While Bernadette controlled herself with her hands just as she was about to go up with her boots still on right beside me, I took off my shoes and got up onto the porch.

「I came here after listening to what Jean had to say but……」
「Your coming here means that you"re willing to fight me, right?」

Kuon Heleott"s mouth was hung as if to say "I was waiting for this".

「……Well, that"s what I intend to do.」
「Then that makes the conversation quick!」

When Kuon Heleott stood up, gang members wearing dougis appeared. Their numbers surpa.s.sed ten.
And they gripped various weapons in their hands. Swords, spears, axes……there was even a maniac-like weapon, the iron-ribbed fan.

「Choose whichever one you like. They are bladeless.」

No, I wanted something that wouldn"t hurt even when struck by it like a wooden sword (though a wooden sword would hurt plenty) but……Well, I guess it can"t be helped.

「Since I have the chance, I"ll choose this weapon.」

From the members (they came flying) that were lined up, I chose two weapons.

「!……」

And then, the moment I held those two weapons, that guy"s eyes changed. ……It was kind of like, he was a child that was given the Christmas present that he wanted……They were those kinds of eyes.
And then, I was convinced with that. The reason why Kuon Heleott knew my name and why he was so tenacious about fighting with me.

「Yeah, that"s right. This is my original stance.」

I took a stance as if to show it off to Kuon Heleott.

A dual-wielding of a sword and a spear.

It was my original stance that I furnished in the fights up until I sealed the Demon King three years ago and that was ingrained into my body.
It was a daring stance that I had worked out from the enigmatic theory of "Short distance and mid-distance, since it could cope with both of these, it"s the strongest!" that I had back in those days.
It was a general purpose stance that I had arrived at in order to use four-legged movement, Shukuchi, and a bunch of others things that I, who was in full blown Chuunibyou at the time, had come up with.

「The 『Flawless 【Kamui】 Stance』[1]……A completely nonsensical naming sense if I do say so myself.」

The spear was at my back, and the sword tip was pointing at my opponent.

While getting a bad feeling from Kuon Heleott who was looking at me with sparkling eyes, I made a side long glance and peeked over at Jean.
That"s how it was, you are a minstrel after all. ……You probably called it a heroic tale, sung it, and taught it him, didn"t you~.
I"m definitely going to beat the c.r.a.p out of you after this.

Seeing Jean who was holding a feather pen and blank paged hard cover book and was delightfully smiling, I swore to do such.

Translator’s Notes:
[1] Original: 天衣無縫【神威(カムイ)】の構え. 天衣無縫 could also be read as "perfect beauty with no trace of artifice". And 神威 could be read as "G.o.d"s majesty", "G.o.d"s authority", or "might of Heaven".