XII: Sheila’s Strength
“LADY Frau, just one moment, please.”
Sheila instantly drew both of the swords on her back, then pointed the sword in her right hand at Frau. There was some distance between them, but Sheila was so swift they might as well have been standing a breath apart.
“Hrmph!”
In response, Frau fired a jolt of electricity from the tip of her finger without hesitation. Unlike her cutesy shout, her spell was a force to be reckoned with. It was like a small bolt of lightning, probably enough to electrocute a normal person to death.
“Hiyah!” However, Sheila easily mowed down the lightning bolt.
“She took out a spell with just her sword?!” Keely exclaimed. The other two wizards made noises of surprise as well. One could not simply defend against magic with a sword, to say nothing of cutting it down—that was impossible.
“You mustn’t cast spells at other people so carelessly, Lady Frau,” Sheila said. “Just as I suspected, it looks like we do need to have a talk. Well, perhaps in this situation I ought to call it disciplinary action.”
Sheila once again pointed her sword at Frau. The swordswoman’s jaw was tilted upward and her eyes were wide open. Compared to her usual calm demeanor, she was unimaginably menacing.
Frau glanced down at her palm, then raised both hands. “Hah!”
There was a flash of lightning—the strongest lightning spell Frau could cast without an incantation.
“Hmph!” Sheila shattered the lightning bolt with a powerful downward slash.
“Why is there another person who can negate magic with physical force? Scary…” Noa’s face was pale. She was probably remembering her nightmare at the Consort Selection Tournament, when Cassandra had crushed her spell in her bare hand.
“Oh, good grief, who do you think I am?” Sheila said. “I can’t believe you thought spells at this level would be enough to take care of me.”
Relaxed, she strode up to Frau. Unusually for the wizard, Frau’s forehead was visibly slick with sweat. She exchanged looks with her three subordinates.
“O fire!”
“O wind!”
“O lightning!”
Keely, Mika, and Noa—who were subject to regular training from Frau—each reflexively voiced spells to protect their master.
“That’s useless, useless, and USELESS!”
With precise slashes, Sheila used her dual swords to cut down the entire trio of contrasting spells. Then, she executed a virtuoso spin and placed the blade of one sword against Frau’s neck, forcibly interrupting her as she tried to take advantage of the confusion to cast a teleportation spell.
“How…?” Frau was unable to hide her alarm at Sheila’s unforeseen strength.
“Did you perhaps mistakenly believe I was weak, Lady Frau?” The corners of the knight’s mouth curved upward. Frau fearfully shook her head. “I was born in Vulcan, in the family of the Twin Blades, you know. I’ve been trained in how to fight against wizards since I was just a child.”
“Huh?” Mika exclaimed. “But none of the Vulcanians we’ve fought are so absurdly strong that they can cut a spell with a sword. Unlike in Farune.” She frowned with irritation. She was probably remembering when she had fought against Mars. He had used an invisible shield to block her magic, but generally speaking, warriors could never defend against spells head-on.
“Those in the same class as the Celestial Swords certainly can,” Sheila said. “It’s just that Lady Frau killed all the Celestial Swords in the pro-king faction, so you’ve never faced anyone at that level. And anyway, my genius with the sword surpasses any of theirs. Of course I can cut a simple spell with my sword.”
“Incredible…”
It was the voice of someone who was blown away by Sheila’s words: Yamato, who at some point had come to stand behind the three wizards. As always, he had tied back his long black hair, and his outfit consisted of a robe fastened around his waist by a cloth belt. In his left hand, he held a longsword in its sheath.
“Yamato! When did you get here?!” Keely exclaimed in surprise. She, Mika, and Noa hurriedly separated themselves from him.
“I was waiting outside the room the whole time, didn’t you know? One of my duties is to be Lady Sheila’s bodyguard, so I always make sure to stay close by, though I maintain some distance so as not to be a bother. Of course, Lady Sheila is quite perceptive, so I have to stay a considerable ways away.” Yamato spoke nonchalantly, but a single tear rolled down his cheek as he did. He was awestruck by Sheila’s swordsmanship.
“However, I am glad that I was able to catch this,” he went on. “I would expect nothing less of His Majesty’s princess consort. Why, to cut a spell using a sword—truly astounding! She makes it look simple, but the technique requires one to momentarily coat one’s sword in mana and cancel out the spell. It’s impossible without considerable skill. She isn’t an S-rank adventurer for nothing. Sigmund from Dorssen must be quite skilled as well. I’d like to fight him one day. Ah, but right now, I want to try cutting a spell. I’m not sure whether I can do it at my level, but I’ll never know unless I try…and look, there are three wizards right here, just when you need them. What do you think, would you like to have a bout with me? Please, allow me to test my blade on your magic.”
“Ugh, what a creep…” Noa grimaced. There wasn’t a wizard alive who wanted to have their own spells cut down for the fun of it. Fighting someone on whom magic didn’t work was nothing less than a nightmare. The three of them had no obligation to let Yamato do it as mere practice.
However, this meant that Frau’s subordinates were now trapped by Yamato. Frau no longer had anyone to help her.
“Now, Lady Frau,” Sheila said. “Yamato will keep them busy, so why don’t we have a nice long talk, just the two of us?” With an icy smile on her face, she approached Frau as she backed into a corner. The wizard sporadically fired off some spells in resistance, but Sheila cut them all down with her sword. “Naughty children need to be punished.”
“No—!”
Frau’s faint scream faded away into the halls of Vulcan’s castle.
✦ ✦ ✦
🍖🍖🍖
“YOUR Majesty, Lady Sheila has completed her takeover of Vulcan.”
This was the news that greeted Mars after he returned to Eyland from the Theocracy of Mauve. The one who brought the report was Gyunei of the Wyvern unit, who had rushed over from Vulcan.
“Well, that’s what I expected,” Mars replied. He received the report as if it were only natural, without showing a hint of surprise.
“I see, Your Majesty believed that Vulcan would inevitably surrender because Lady Frau’s Mages’ Guild is there for support,” Warren said, nodding triumphantly. He and Farune’s other important figures were also there in the tent.
“That’s part of it, but Sheila’s also fighting over there, so I knew there was no way they could lose,” Mars said.
“Lady Sheila, sir?” Ogma said. “She may be a former S-rank adventurer, but I’ve hardly ever seen her fight. Compared to the other princesses, don’t you think she’s a bit less powerful?” He was calmly saying something that could easily have been taken as insolent.
“What are you talking about?” Mars said, exasperated. “There are hardly any S-rank adventurers, you know. S-rank isn’t just another level above A. She and Sigmund, who was also S-rank, are both monsters, no question about it. They’re strong enough to try for number one in the Hundred.”
There was a stir among his assembled subordinates. They hadn’t even considered that anyone not in the Hundred could be that strong. But on further consideration, what Mars said made complete sense: Sigmund and Sheila had been widely celebrated as the strongest adventurers, and they had gotten there without monster meat. Their talent was on an entirely different level.
“Listen, Sheila never lost until she fought Cassandra, which means she’s really skilled,” Mars continued. “Not only that, but she’s so greedy about getting stronger that she became Cassandra’s apprentice after losing. Despite how she might seem, she’d actually be a good fit for the Hundred. I’m not even sure Frau could beat her.” He shrugged his shoulders.
“Yes, sir, quite right!” Gyunei interjected. “Using her own strength, Lady Sheila placed Lady Frau’s Mages’ Guild completely under her command, and worked them to the bone…er, effectively deployed them in order to defeat the pro-king faction. There were few deaths on either side, and thanks to that, she was ultimately successful at forcing them to peacefully capitulate.”
“Incredible!” Ogma remarked.
The Farunians were unable to hide their surprise at Gyunei’s announcement. It had never even occurred to them that Sheila could have been that capable. Then, they all raised their voices in joy.
“That’s Lord Mars for you, he has a reliable eye for women.”
“If they have a child together, it’ll be incredibly strong.”
“And with this, Vulcan is ours as well!”
In the midst of it all, Mars was the only one with an uncertain look on his face.
But I never actually wanted Vulcan…