CH 106.1

Chapter 106.1: The Strongest Swordsman

◆Goddess of Knowledge and Books; Totona

The flying ship was heading toward Nargol. The sky was cloudless; clear and infinitely blue. As I stood on the ship’s deck, enjoying the wind through my fluttering hair, I felt like things would have been even better if this was just a mere carefree journey.

「Thank you for allowing me to board your flying ship, Ishtar-sama…」

I bowed my head, thanking the owner of the flying ship. I didn’t own one myself so my only option was to request this favor from her.

Honestly speaking, I never felt the need for one since I preferred my treasury to be filled with books. Naturally, it meant that I didn’t have any flying vehicles to use at my own volition. I was grateful to her for offering me a ride on her ship.

「It’s not a big deal, Totona-chan. You’re Faeri-chan’s daughter after all.」

She let out a carefree smile as she spoke.

Though the two Goddesses’ followers were fighting each other, the Goddesses themselves were in fact on good terms, which was why I was allowed on her ship. However, it seemed as though she was worried about something.

Currently, the Evil Gods who are pursuing Rena are heading to the northern area, the one closest to Nargol, to challenge the Hero of Light.

I never really cared about Rena’s Hero. But, it was a different story if Thors-niisan was amongst those Evil Gods. I get a headache every time I hear about this idiot’s foolish actions.

Thors-niisan had always been responsible for the defense of Elios—he wasn’t allowed to leave Elios without permission. So, I was really surprised when I heard from Alphos that he had left his position; Alphos could have at least tried to stop him.

Rena somehow got flustered when she heard the news and decided to head to the north immediately.

As expected, she must be worried about her lover.

「Nevertheless, I hope we won’t be arriving too late. I mean, I don’t mind even if the fight hasn’t ended yet, but I can’t help but get interested in Rena-chan’s Hero of Light.」

Ishtar seemed to be enjoying this situation. It was as if she was going on a leisure trip.

It seems that Rena’s lover was her main interest nowadays, and she wanted to see him fight the Evil Gods. She also seemed to have another motive for heading north; she probably wanted to get to know the Hero better. It was the same old strategy she used to bait the men in this ship.

There were thousands of crew members in this ship, and almost all of them were men. Everyone of them was good looking and had received a  love invitation from her.

That was a trivial matter though. The problem was… why were all of them walking around almost naked?

I mean, they wore nothing but a small apron around their waist. Thanks to that, I kept seeing a glimpse of THAT shaking around whenever they were moving.

Well, the owner of the ship herself was also BARELY wearing clothes though. I mean, her attire hid nothing but the tips of her huge cleavage.

I was the only one wearing multiple layers of clothing on this ship, and of course, I had no intention of taking them off too. I mean, like hell I would wear minimal clothing when she had those humongous pair of jugs.

Mine would look miserable if ever compared to hers.

「Is something the matter, Totona-chan? Are you worrying about your big brother? Don’t worry about him, Alphos is on stand by nearby after all.」

I wasn’t worrying about that matter.

「Haah, sure enough… It should be fine as long as Alphos is nearby, but still…」

I was throwing in an appropriate response. But, she had no idea at all what we were dealing with.

Yes, everything SHOULD BE under control AS LONG AS Alphos was there.

But, there was no way that blockhead brother of mine would accept Alphos’ help. That’s why I was worried about him.Which is the reason why I decided to go get him myself.

Though Alphos looked unreliable on normal occasions, he was really strong in combat. Despite always slacking around, he was far more powerful than Thors-niisan. My big brother had always been doing his best to get recognition from our father, the God King. Yet, the result of his training was always a cruel defeat.

It was truly regrettable since the factor of talent was involved in this regard. Those twins were truly gifted to the point of all of us being hateful.

Maybe not even that Hero of Light, nor Kuroki, the Dark Knight, could beat Alphos.

Thus, I ended up thinking about the worst outcome of the current situation.

The situation in which Kuroki had to be dispatched since the Evil Gods were fighting on the border of Nargol.

When that happens, a fight might break out between Kuroki and Alphos. And the result might end with Kuroki’s demise at the hands of Alphos.

I didn’t want that to happen. I didn’t want Kuroki to die.

I mean, I finally met my ideal man for the very first time in my life.

That’s why I didn’t want him to die.

「Everything will be okay as long as he doesn’t fight Alphos though…」

I muttered so in an extremely small voice.

===

◆Goddess of Wisdom and Victory; Rena

We couldn’t get into the powerful barrier conjured by Alphos.

Standing by near my flying ship were female daemons riding their wyverns. I happen to know the name of one of those female daemons, if I’m not wrong, her name was Guno.

「Rena-sama, how do you want to deal with those daemons?」

Nier, the Valkyrie was waiting for my order.

「Leave them be, Nier. We shouldn’t create more trouble in this situation.」

Those female daemons were no match to me. So there was no problem with leaving them to their own devices. Moreover, they weren’t the biggest trouble out there.

I mean, I would never have expected the Evil Gods to conspire to defeat Reiji. I was really surprised when I heard this information from Kuna.

Good grief, what in the world were those idiot men doing? Couldn’t they just go back to their rooms and worship me like usual?

I mean, even that Thors ended up joining hands with those disgusting fellas (Evil Gods).

Good grief, they were a bunch of troublesome fellows.

Alphos should have been able to stop them, but that big brother of mine was as unreliable as ever. It seems he decided to watch the humorous fight between Reiji and the Evil Gods.

And yet, I never expected that he would do an even sillier deed. Just what in the hell was he thinking when he challenged Kuroki to a fight?

Though I’m worried about Reiji and the others, Kuroki’s situation takes the utmost priority.

Moreover, Totona was also coming to this place soon. Which reminds me that for some mysterious reason, our preference matched in most cases.

That’s why I should just leave the matter of Reiji and Thors to her.

It was about the time for her to arrive.

「But, as expected of Alphos-sama, Elios’ strongest Holy Knight. To be able to create such a powerful barrier… Now that Dark Knight is going to be defeated too.」

Nier spoke with a smile on her face.

It seems she had no idea at all.

I heaved a sigh.

「That’s impossible, Nier.」

Nier and the other Valkyries made puzzled looks on their faces upon hearing my remark.

Even though he was always playing around, there was no doubt that Alphos was immensely powerful. The title of Elios’ strongest Holy Knight might be an understatement, he might actually be the strongest God in all of Elios. That’s why Nier and co thought that Alphos wouldn’t be defeated.

But I know.

「The one who is going to lose is Alphos. There’s no way Alphos can beat him.」

My Kuroki was undefeated.

◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

BGM

The sword that I swung upward caught Alphos’ helmet, sending it away—my sword had finally reached him.

Alphos, who had lost his helmet, was looking at me with shock written all over his face.

「How surprising. That must be a fluke, right? Injuring me is i… uhm?」

Alphos touched his cheek with his left hand.

There was a thin red line on his cheek.

It seems my sword had managed to graze it.

「YOU! HOW DARE YOU LEAVE A SCRATCH ON MY FACE!!! UNFORGIVABLE!!!」

Alphos’ expression transformed, he was definitely enraged now.

He~h, what a drama queen. It was just a light graze though. The length was even less than one centimeter.

Moreover, such a graze shouldn’t be a big deal for the divine race, who could heal in an instant.

There was no reason for him to be enraged by this trivial matter.

The moment I thought so, I heard jeers and screams coming from the Alphos’ flying ship.

「HEY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID JUST NOW?! ALPHOS-SAMA’S FACE IS THE TREASURE OF THIS WORLD!」

「HOW DARE YOU INJURE ALPHOS-SAMA’S FACE!!!」

「YOU IDIO―――OOT!!! JUST DIE ALREADY!!!」

「YEAH, JUST DIE ALREADY―――!!」

The beauties were jeering toward me. Teir jeering and swearing was enough to cool the mood.

This is why I don’t want to fight a handsome dude!!!

The women are going to resent me for beating them, or scorn me when I lose.

「PLAYTIME IS OVER, DARK KNIGHT!!!」

Alphos’ enraged face split into several clones. Each clone was approaching me at high speed.

「HEYAAAH!!!」

Since their movement was limited to the same movement as the original, it was much easier for me, who figured out the trick, to deal with them.

All I needed was to keep an eye on their movement, feel it in my being, and swing my sword.

Left, right, front, and back.

I parried every single strike of Alphos’ clones and countered by using the momentum of the parry toward Alphos.

Alphos retreated at high speed.

「IMPOSSIBLE!!」

Alphos couldn’t hide the shock on his face as he looked down.

Blood was trailing down from his left-arm.

「YOU CAN SEE ALL OF MY ATTACKS!!」

I shook my head upon hearing that.

「Yes, most of the time it’s impossible. But, I think anyone can do what I just did after crossing sword with you for a long period…」

Rather, how in the hell did I get cornered like that when the solution was pretty simple.

I heaved a sigh, lamenting the lack of talent in me.

Alphos was rushing again. But, he didn’t use his clones this time.

I closed in right before he entered my range.

「WHAT THE!!!」

Alphos took a defensive stance in a hurry upon seeing me suddenly appearing right in front of him. Though he managed to block my demon sword’s slash, he lost in terms of strength.

My attack sent him flying till he crashed into the crystal pillars.

I headed toward him again, pursuing him.

「D*MMIT?!」

Alphos rose up in a hurry and dodged my charge.

「AS IF I’M GOING TO GIVE YOU THE TIME TO ESCAPE!!!」

I kept chasing after Alphos.

「IMPOSSIBLE!! HOW CAN YOU MOVE AS FAST AS ME!!」

It’s not like I can move as fast as you.

Moving as fast as Alphos in this barrier was impossible. However, I had the ability to grab his shadow, which allowed me to always be pulled by him.

Now, he won’t be able to escape from me.

◆Goddess of Knowledge and Books; Totona

The flying ship was heading toward Nargol. The sky was cloudless; clear and infinitely blue. As I stood on the ship’s deck, enjoying the wind through my fluttering hair, I felt like things would have been even better if this was just a mere carefree journey.

「Thank you for allowing me to board your flying ship, Ishtar-sama…」

I bowed my head, thanking the owner of the flying ship. I didn’t own one myself so my only option was to request this favor from her.

Honestly speaking, I never felt the need for one since I preferred my treasury to be filled with books. Naturally, it meant that I didn’t have any flying vehicles to use at my own volition. I was grateful to her for offering me a ride on her ship.

「It’s not a big deal, Totona-chan. You’re Faeri-chan’s daughter after all.」

She let out a carefree smile as she spoke.

Though the two Goddesses’ followers were fighting each other, the Goddesses themselves were in fact on good terms, which was why I was allowed on her ship. However, it seemed as though she was worried about something.

Currently, the Evil Gods who are pursuing Rena are heading to the northern area, the one closest to Nargol, to challenge the Hero of Light.

I never really cared about Rena’s Hero. But, it was a different story if Thors-niisan was amongst those Evil Gods. I get a headache every time I hear about this idiot’s foolish actions.

Thors-niisan had always been responsible for the defense of Elios—he wasn’t allowed to leave Elios without permission. So, I was really surprised when I heard from Alphos that he had left his position; Alphos could have at least tried to stop him.

Rena somehow got flustered when she heard the news and decided to head to the north immediately.

As expected, she must be worried about her lover.

「Nevertheless, I hope we won’t be arriving too late. I mean, I don’t mind even if the fight hasn’t ended yet, but I can’t help but get interested in Rena-chan’s Hero of Light.」

Ishtar seemed to be enjoying this situation. It was as if she was going on a leisure trip.

It seems that Rena’s lover was her main interest nowadays, and she wanted to see him fight the Evil Gods. She also seemed to have another motive for heading north; she probably wanted to get to know the Hero better. It was the same old strategy she used to bait the men in this ship.

There were thousands of crew members in this ship, and almost all of them were men. Everyone of them was good looking and had received a  love invitation from her.

That was a trivial matter though. The problem was… why were all of them walking around almost naked?

I mean, they wore nothing but a small apron around their waist. Thanks to that, I kept seeing a glimpse of THAT shaking around whenever they were moving.

Well, the owner of the ship herself was also BARELY wearing clothes though. I mean, her attire hid nothing but the tips of her huge cleavage.

I was the only one wearing multiple layers of clothing on this ship, and of course, I had no intention of taking them off too. I mean, like hell I would wear minimal clothing when she had those humongous pair of jugs.

Mine would look miserable if ever compared to hers.

「Is something the matter, Totona-chan? Are you worrying about your big brother? Don’t worry about him, Alphos is on stand by nearby after all.」

I wasn’t worrying about that matter.

「Haah, sure enough… It should be fine as long as Alphos is nearby, but still…」

I was throwing in an appropriate response. But, she had no idea at all what we were dealing with.

Yes, everything SHOULD BE under control AS LONG AS Alphos was there.

But, there was no way that blockhead brother of mine would accept Alphos’ help. That’s why I was worried about him.Which is the reason why I decided to go get him myself.

Though Alphos looked unreliable on normal occasions, he was really strong in combat. Despite always slacking around, he was far more powerful than Thors-niisan. My big brother had always been doing his best to get recognition from our father, the God King. Yet, the result of his training was always a cruel defeat.

It was truly regrettable since the factor of talent was involved in this regard. Those twins were truly gifted to the point of all of us being hateful.

Maybe not even that Hero of Light, nor Kuroki, the Dark Knight, could beat Alphos.

Thus, I ended up thinking about the worst outcome of the current situation.

The situation in which Kuroki had to be dispatched since the Evil Gods were fighting on the border of Nargol.

When that happens, a fight might break out between Kuroki and Alphos. And the result might end with Kuroki’s demise at the hands of Alphos.

I didn’t want that to happen. I didn’t want Kuroki to die.

I mean, I finally met my ideal man for the very first time in my life.

That’s why I didn’t want him to die.

「Everything will be okay as long as he doesn’t fight Alphos though…」

I muttered so in an extremely small voice.

===

◆Goddess of Wisdom and Victory; Rena

We couldn’t get into the powerful barrier conjured by Alphos.

Standing by near my flying ship were female daemons riding their wyverns. I happen to know the name of one of those female daemons, if I’m not wrong, her name was Guno.

「Rena-sama, how do you want to deal with those daemons?」

Nier, the Valkyrie was waiting for my order.

「Leave them be, Nier. We shouldn’t create more trouble in this situation.」

Those female daemons were no match to me. So there was no problem with leaving them to their own devices. Moreover, they weren’t the biggest trouble out there.

I mean, I would never have expected the Evil Gods to conspire to defeat Reiji. I was really surprised when I heard this information from Kuna.

Good grief, what in the world were those idiot men doing? Couldn’t they just go back to their rooms and worship me like usual?

I mean, even that Thors ended up joining hands with those disgusting fellas (Evil Gods).

Good grief, they were a bunch of troublesome fellows.

Alphos should have been able to stop them, but that big brother of mine was as unreliable as ever. It seems he decided to watch the humorous fight between Reiji and the Evil Gods.

And yet, I never expected that he would do an even sillier deed. Just what in the hell was he thinking when he challenged Kuroki to a fight?

Though I’m worried about Reiji and the others, Kuroki’s situation takes the utmost priority.

Moreover, Totona was also coming to this place soon. Which reminds me that for some mysterious reason, our preference matched in most cases.

That’s why I should just leave the matter of Reiji and Thors to her.

It was about the time for her to arrive.

「But, as expected of Alphos-sama, Elios’ strongest Holy Knight. To be able to create such a powerful barrier… Now that Dark Knight is going to be defeated too.」

Nier spoke with a smile on her face.

It seems she had no idea at all.

I heaved a sigh.

「That’s impossible, Nier.」

Nier and the other Valkyries made puzzled looks on their faces upon hearing my remark.

Even though he was always playing around, there was no doubt that Alphos was immensely powerful. The title of Elios’ strongest Holy Knight might be an understatement, he might actually be the strongest God in all of Elios. That’s why Nier and co thought that Alphos wouldn’t be defeated.

But I know.

「The one who is going to lose is Alphos. There’s no way Alphos can beat him.」

My Kuroki was undefeated.

◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

BGM

The sword that I swung upward caught Alphos’ helmet, sending it away—my sword had finally reached him.

Alphos, who had lost his helmet, was looking at me with shock written all over his face.

「How surprising. That must be a fluke, right? Injuring me is i… uhm?」

Alphos touched his cheek with his left hand.

There was a thin red line on his cheek.

It seems my sword had managed to graze it.

「YOU! HOW DARE YOU LEAVE A SCRATCH ON MY FACE!!! UNFORGIVABLE!!!」

Alphos’ expression transformed, he was definitely enraged now.

He~h, what a drama queen. It was just a light graze though. The length was even less than one centimeter.

Moreover, such a graze shouldn’t be a big deal for the divine race, who could heal in an instant.

There was no reason for him to be enraged by this trivial matter.

The moment I thought so, I heard jeers and screams coming from the Alphos’ flying ship.

「HEY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID JUST NOW?! ALPHOS-SAMA’S FACE IS THE TREASURE OF THIS WORLD!」

「HOW DARE YOU INJURE ALPHOS-SAMA’S FACE!!!」

「YOU IDIO―――OOT!!! JUST DIE ALREADY!!!」

「YEAH, JUST DIE ALREADY―――!!」

The beauties were jeering toward me. Teir jeering and swearing was enough to cool the mood.

This is why I don’t want to fight a handsome dude!!!

The women are going to resent me for beating them, or scorn me when I lose.

「PLAYTIME IS OVER, DARK KNIGHT!!!」

Alphos’ enraged face split into several clones. Each clone was approaching me at high speed.

「HEYAAAH!!!」

Since their movement was limited to the same movement as the original, it was much easier for me, who figured out the trick, to deal with them.

All I needed was to keep an eye on their movement, feel it in my being, and swing my sword.

Left, right, front, and back.

I parried every single strike of Alphos’ clones and countered by using the momentum of the parry toward Alphos.

Alphos retreated at high speed.

「IMPOSSIBLE!!」

Alphos couldn’t hide the shock on his face as he looked down.

Blood was trailing down from his left-arm.

「YOU CAN SEE ALL OF MY ATTACKS!!」

I shook my head upon hearing that.

「Yes, most of the time it’s impossible. But, I think anyone can do what I just did after crossing sword with you for a long period…」

Rather, how in the hell did I get cornered like that when the solution was pretty simple.

I heaved a sigh, lamenting the lack of talent in me.

Alphos was rushing again. But, he didn’t use his clones this time.

I closed in right before he entered my range.

「WHAT THE!!!」

Alphos took a defensive stance in a hurry upon seeing me suddenly appearing right in front of him. Though he managed to block my demon sword’s slash, he lost in terms of strength.

My attack sent him flying till he crashed into the crystal pillars.

I headed toward him again, pursuing him.

「D*MMIT?!」

Alphos rose up in a hurry and dodged my charge.

「AS IF I’M GOING TO GIVE YOU THE TIME TO ESCAPE!!!」

I kept chasing after Alphos.

「IMPOSSIBLE!! HOW CAN YOU MOVE AS FAST AS ME!!」

It’s not like I can move as fast as you.

Moving as fast as Alphos in this barrier was impossible. However, I had the ability to grab his shadow, which allowed me to always be pulled by him.

Now, he won’t be able to escape from me.