CH 21

“Duel …..”

“Yes, a duel.”

Grinning, Agranis laughs.

“How about you, Master Ark?”

“Oh, I don’t mind. I wouldn’t lose to a bloody guard. Hey, you bastard guard! Accept this duel, okay? Or else I’ll beat you to death without any rules!”

Hmm …… what to do. I don’t like the idea of taking the bait of the heroes, but if I win this fight and force these guys to back down, then that might be worth it.

When I was thinking about it, my sleeve was pulled down lightly.

“G, Gustav!”

“Hm? What’s wrong, Nina?”

“I’m sorry, it seems like I’ve dragged you into my problems.”

“No, it’s nothing for Nina to apologise for. No, it’s not something for you to apologise for. It was my intention to get involved with them.”

“But …… that Hero, he seems to be completely intent on hurting Gustav.”

Looking at Ark. Yeah, I’m getting a very resentful look from him. It’s almost an honor to be so rivaled by the main character of the original story.

“He’s strong, isn’t he? If this continues, Gustav will get hurt. …… and if that’s case, I’ll listen to him and do everything he says. ……”

“No, you don’t have to. I wouldn’t lose to a guy like that.”

“Gu, Gustav …….”

“Just rest assured and watch. I’ll protect Nina.”

“—!”

As soon as I say this, Nina looks down. She looks down quickly and vigorously. She is probably anxious, and perhaps because of her strong sense of responsibility, her ears were bright red. She is probably ashamed that she has caused me trouble. But it’s a man’s honor to be able to protect a girl. Nina has nothing to be ashamed of.

So please, don’t worry. I’m never going to lose.

As for me, I’ll take Ark’s personal, grudge-fueled glare head on.

“Fine, I’ll take that duel.”

“Humph! I’ll make you regret your arrogance, Guard!”

The reason why, I can not be defeated by a hero is that I can predict the level of the hero Ark and the skills he will use. After all, in a previous life, I played [I’m going to go and beat the Demon King] using Ark himself as the main character (reluctantly, I know)!

The status and skills of the heroes are far stronger than the mobs, but his level will surely be lower than mine.

The only thing I have to worry about is…

“Oh? Are you staring at me or something, Sir Gustav?”

“Who are you, Agranis?”

“As I told you, I’m just a poor sorcerer who used to work in the royal castle.”

I don’t know this character..

There was no such sorcerer as [Agranis] in the game I played in my previous life. Well, although this world is basically the same scenario as the game world, some of its details did differ. But there’s been no difference so far to the extent that the characters in the game have changed?

Well, there are parts of the original scenario that I myself interfered with and changed a lot, such as preventing the princess from being kidnapped. Has that had an impact on it?

“Now, Master Ark and Sir Gustav, are you both ready?”

Ark nodded at Agranis’ words. I nodded again too.

“Then let me explain to you in advance the conditions that the two of you will have to make your opponents accept if you win. When Ark-sama wins, Sir Gustav will not get in the way of us recruiting Nina-san into the group of heroes.”

“Hey Agranis, on top of that, get on your knees. I’ll have the fucking guards rub their heads on the ground and apologise.”

“…. Then, plus getting down on your knees. And you don’t mind that, do you, Sir Gustav?”

No, do you mind, that’s fine, but I don’t want to spend my time in this place any longer.

“Well, I don’t mind.”

“Thank you very much. Now then, what are the terms of your victory, Sir Gustav?”

“I only ask one thing. I only ask one thing: that hero Ark and his party of heroes have no further contact with Nina in the future.”

“Yes, sir. Is that all right with you, Master Ark?”

“Hmph! I don’t care. It’s impossible for me to lose the first place!”

The hero draws his sword. Hm? Why is it, somehow a sinister aura seems to be coming from that sword? No, let’s think about it later. Anyway, if we’ve come this far, I have no choice but to fight and win.

The hero and I make a little distance between us and then take a stance, respectively.

“Well, let’s get started, shall we, f*cking guard?”

“Yeah, come at me quickly.”

“Hmph! Let’s see how long you can stay on your feet like that, eh? I suggest you give up as soon as possible…”

Ark kicks out of the rubbish heap and approaches rapidly. Hmm, faster than I thought. It’s not an early level 5 move, maybe even over level 10.

“Take that! Mega Slash!”

Clank! I receive the sword skill that is swung sideways with the center of my spear. Yeah, I’m fine. I can repel this much with plenty of room to spare, –and just when I thought that, something abnormal happened.

“—?”

A sensation as if your body is sinking heavily. My movements slowed down.

“What the …… is this ……?”

” You’re full of openings!”

Clank! Clank! Clank! I take a series of blows from Ark with my spear. I didn’t take any damage, but however, my body got heavier each time.

The ominous aura oozing from the hero’s sword seems to be of the Darkness attribute. Some dark attribute magic has the effect of taking away the opponent’s physical strength or temporarily lowering the opponent’s status. But it’s impossible. Such dark attribute weapons are not sold in this castle town, and yet!

“No way. ……”

When I looked at Agranis, I saw her mumbling something like an incantation with the fingers of both hands crossed.

Is she using some kind of magic? Don’t tell me. It was it also her who applied the dark attribute magic to the hero’s weapon?

“You’ve got a lot of leeway to look the other way!”

“?”

I dodged the sword that was slashed at my side. Anyway, it’s not a good idea to take an attack from this guy right now. For the time being, let’s stick to dodging.

But.

“Oh? What is that? The power is overflowing..!”

This time, Ark’s body glows red, blue, yellow, and green, one after another.

Buffs? Now that would be a magic grant, which boosts the status of attack, defense, dexterity and speed, respectively. And from Ark’s reaction, it wasn’t something he applied with his own.

“Oi, Agranis! You just now meddled in a duel!”

“Wait, what are you talking about, Sir Gustav? What did I do?”

“Don’t play dumb with me! The magic you just used to boost his status was yours!”

“Where is the proof? Did anyone see the moment I invoked the magic?”

“You..!”

Surely, the only witness is me. Generally speaking, only the same sorcerer can spot a sorcerer invoking sorcery. There’s no way I could have come up with conclusive proof.

“Oh, I feel awesome. Now I can even snap the Demon King’s neck with one hand..!”

Ark smiles fearlessly and carries his sword.

Even if he is a hero, he’s a dirty, cowardly bastard.

“Haa, totally ridiculous..”

“Kukuku! What’s wrong? You want to give up before you get hurt? You’re a punk-ass guard, eh?”

“No, I don’t care. Let’s continue.

“Oi oi oi oi, cherish your life little!”

The hero Arc steps forward to cut me down.

Well. I was going to go easy on him and not use my skills, but now I’m having second thoughts.