“Hey, you’re not bad at the whole fighting gig! Changing your attack style mid-battle is a lot harder than it sounds! But then you still kept up your precision in your blows, which was really impressive!”
“Whoa! Thanks a bunch! You were rockin’ it hard yourself!!”
It was a few minutes later! With the battle now over, Wataru had returned to his normal self and was smiling and talking with Elphabelle!
Seeing that the fighting was done, Aria and Résistance walked up to them!
“Nice job, Wataru!”
“That fight was fantastic, Wataru!”
I should mention for our readers that they had been so busy drinking the tea and eating the cookies Mr. Tiansteward had given them that they had seen almost none of the final phase of the battle!
“All right, so now that that’s over... Orb, please!”
Elphabelle blushed when Wataru said this, and replied: “Um, hey... There’s something else I’d like to ask you... You feel like gettin’ into the assassination business?”
“Huh!? What do you mean by that!?”
Elphabelle was positively bashful as she twisted this way and that in shy hesitation!
“Ugh... Are you really going to make me come right out and say it? In other words... I’m asking if you want to marry me and become a member of the House of Evil!”
Wataru froze solid upon hearing this! He was as still and stiff as a mammoth trapped in ice since the Ice Age!!
“...Huh!?!?”
Allow me to explain! Though Wataru was a manly, hot-blooded boy from Japan, he was also underage! Therefore he obviously had no experience with dating women! Despite his lack of experience, he suddenly found himself being proposed to! It’s only natural he would freeze up in shock!
“Y’know, I’ve always wanted to marry someone stronger than myself! I fought you today, and then, I felt it, okay—! The only man I want to marry is you!!”
Nearby, Sebas looked positively delighted at this turn of events!
“Ohoho, that’s an excellent idea, Lady Elphabelle. With a fighter as skilled as Wataru by your side, I’m sure you two will become the world’s top assassins in no time at all.”
“Right, Sebas! Oh, and Wataru—call me ‘honey’ from now on, okay? I’m gonna call you ‘darling’!”
“Hey, cut that out!! I haven’t agreed to a damn thing!!”
“What he said!” Résistance shouted, rather more forcefully than was perhaps necessary! “Wataru, getting married...? Inconceivable! Entirely inconceivable!”
She turned to Aria and yelled at her, too! “You’d better speak up about this right now!”
“Why...? What’s the problem?” Aria was completely indifferent to the idea! How very unlike a proper light novel heroine!!
“A-Aria, are you insane!?”
“No, I mean, if Wataru marries Elphabelle, we can come hang out in this mansion anytime we want, right?”
“Excuse you? Don’t try to weasel your way into my House, girl.”
Elphabelle might as well have slapped her across the face with those words of hers!
“Oh, it’s not like that—I’m more like Wataru’s pet, basically.”
“I don’t believe that crap for a second! I’m not about to let you get between my darling and me!”
“Oh, please, don’t be so petty. It’s a bad look! As long as I get my own room and meals prepared for me every day, I’ll be perfectly fine!”
“Are you out of your damn mind? Just how do you expect to be treated around here!?”
Wataru decided that now was the time to break up their argument with gentlemanly vigor!
“A-Anyhow! I’m not getting married anytime soon!”
“Whaaaaat!! Darling, why!?!?” Elphabelle began to throw an adorable little tantrum!
“Don’t call me ‘darling’!!!!!” Wataru’s face was as red as a... thing that is very red! Totally red! “Look, all I want is the orb, anyway! So c’mon, gimme!””
“But what about marrying me?”
“We can, ah... put that on hold for now. Besides, I’m not old enough for that!”
“Ugh, if you insist! If you’re going to play hard to get, I’ll play along.”
Wataru was visibly confused! “What do you mean, ‘play hard to get’? Is that another fighting style?”
“Cut it out, Elphabelle!” Résistance shouted desperately, waving her arms up and down! “Our Wataru’s a pure and innocent boy! Don’t start filling his head with weird stuff!!” Our manly, hot-blooded Wataru still had no idea what “playing hard to get” could possibly mean!
“All right, all right, I’ll stop.”
Elphabelle looked bored as she turned away from Wataru and addressed Sebas!
“So who’s got the orb right now?”
“That would be the Master.”
“Huh. Guess we gotta call for Daddy, then.”
The steward nodded politely. “A moment, please.” He took in an enormously deep breath, and then yelled so loudly the great hall echoed with the sound!
“MASTER—! MASTERRRRRRRRR—!”
Moments later, there was a loud BOOM! BOOM!! as a crashing, reverberating noise began to shake the very foundations of the mansion!
“Wh-What is that!?” Wataru shouted, uncomprehending. “Is it an earthquake???” Another surprise was yet to come!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Wh-What in the world!? With a thunderous CRA-BAHOOOOM, the eastern wall of the hall exploded into a million pieces, throwing up an impenetrably thick cloud of dust!
From that cloud, a single human man emerged!! ...Could he really be called a “human” after an entrance like that!?
Perhaps even more unbelievably, the man was four meters tall! That’s twice Wataru’s height! Perhaps “human” is the wrong word after all, and “giant” would be a better descriptor!
“Hey, nice to meet ya...!!” the man rumbled, his nearly subsonic voice causing the bellies of all who heard it to shiver! The man wore a custom-made, white formal suit, though it was obvious that the man’s body was quite muscular and well-trained!
The man... I mean, the Man had the fierce, powerful visage of a demon—but his frown disappeared when he greeted the visitors!
“Hello...!!”
His face twisted into something that was almost probably a smile, though it was impossible to tell!
“H-Hello...” Even Wataru was beside himself with awe! The usually noisy and bickering Aria and Résistance could do nothing but look on, gulping in fear at the Man’s appearance!
“So you’re Wataru, huh? Defeating my daughter is no small feat, but you did well...! I was watching your fight from another room, using the surveillance camera over there. Still, though... I’m really impressed...!”
The Man pointed one thick finger up at a box attached to the ceiling! I know some of our Dear Readers are thinking “Fantasy worlds shouldn’t have surveillance cameras!” even after everything we’ve seen so far, but I beg of you to reconsider! Even fantasy worlds can have things like surveillance cameras!!
“Hang on, you just called her your ‘daughter’... So that makes you...?”
“That’s right,” the man confirmed in his deep, full-throated voice. “I am the current Master of the House of Evil, Elphabill of House Evil. The father of Elphabelle...!!!!!!!”
Elphabill! The current master of the greatest assassin’s guild on the Wind Continent, and the father of Elphabelle! Of course he would make his appearance by kicking down a wall!
“......!!”
Wataru subconsciously assumed his combat posture! It was his natural self-preservation instincts at work! With such a terribly massive being before him, he took on a defensive stance without even meaning to!
Elphabill took one look at Wataru trying to defend himself and laughed uproariously!
“HA-HA-HA! So you assume there’s to be a battle! Yes, it’s all very clear to me now...! People always react in one of two ways when they presume danger—but for you, it’s always the ‘fight’ reaction, and never the ‘flight’! I must commend you for your well-developed instincts!”
He raised an arm, thick as a log, and held one clenched fist in front of Wataru!
“Come get it!!”
Wataru, believing this to be the signal to begin the battle, backed away from him while maintaining his defensive posture!
That’s only his fist... but it’s as big as a giant meteor! Wataru broke out into a cold sweat, an almost unheard-of occurrence!
Elphabill slowly unclenched his fist! On the palm of his hand lay a small green sphere! There was no doubt about it! It was the orb!
The orb was about as large as a baby’s head, but it looked like a marble in the palm of Elphabill’s unspeakably massive hand!
“There’s no need for such dramatics. Here, as promised... Now, take it!!” Elphabill looked as ferocious as the Devil himself as he said this!
“Th-Thank you very much...!”
Slowly, ever so slowly, Wataru gingerly took the orb from the palm of the giant’s hand as he expressed his sincere gratitude! The third orb was finally his!
Elphabelle broke out into a bright and cheerful smile!
“Hey, Daddy!”
“Hm? What is it...?”
“I want to make Wataru my husband!!”
Wataru cringed! “Th-That again...! I said before, I’m not about to marry anyone right now!”
At this, Elphabill folded his arms across his chest!
“Elphabelle, my dear. If Wataru feels that way, you are not to trouble him further. That said, I do think...” Elphabill paused and glared right at Wataru! “If Wataru were to become my son-in-law... I do believe that even one such as I would be happy.” His eyes gleamed like those of a lion that had just spotted its prey!
Every cell in Wataru’s body screamed in terror at this giant threat!
“But no matter. Now then, it’s time for my daily ‘Run Around the Wind Continent,’ so I’ll be taking my leave...!!” With no warning at all, he jumped straight up into the air, breaking through the ceiling, and the ceiling above that, and so on, all the way through the mansion’s roof until he disappeared into the distant heavens!
Elphabill of House Evil... I’m not gonna mess around with him! I gotta train harder!!
Wataru found that he was unable to keep from trembling with excitement as he held the orb!
“Ugh, Daddy, really? How many times do I have to tell you to stop destroyin’ the mansion every time you go out!? Anyhow, that’s all! See you again, Wataru! You feel like marryin’ someone, you come back, y’hear!!”
Elphabelle looked as though she had not a care in the world as she held her axe over her shoulder and smiled at Wataru!
“Got it! I don’t think I’ll ever want to get married... but it was fun battling you!! Let’s hang again!!”
And so, Wataru & Co., seen off by Elphabelle and Sebas, left the mansion behind! The three of them had finally reached the halfway point on their journey to collect all six orbs!
To be continued in the next chapter: “Incident alert! Hot-Blooded Detective Wataru Makes an Explosive Discovery!”
*Sources:
[3] Concerning the Life of Renchi, the Heretic of the Martial Arts — Isekai Tensei Publishing
[4] Punching the Air — Isekai Tensei Publishing