Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 416: The Battle Begins and Ends
A battle erupted inside the mountain village.
At the same time Tauro disabled the dagger-wielder, Zion caught the arrow aimed at her with her left gauntlet and deflected it.
“You blocked my arrow with your hand?!”
The archer stared in disbelief. He had assumed Zion was merely the enemy’s rear guard.
Zion immediately chanted [Light Arrow] and counterattacked.
Closing the distance normally would have exposed her to another shot, so she used the spell first.
The surprised archer barely twisted aside in time to avoid the streak of light.
He raised his bow for a second shot and looked back toward Zion—
Only to find that the girl who had been standing at a distance was already directly in front of him.
The [Light Arrow] had been nothing more than a distraction to let her close in.
Startled by movements far too swift for a conventional rear guard, the archer leaped backward.
“Impossible!”
Zion sprang after him and drove her fist forward.
Her glowing fist sank into his body with a dull impact, and light burst through him from within.
“Gah!”
The archer collapsed unconscious.
Meanwhile, Ankh was holding off two swordsmen at once.
“These men know how to fight…!”
A greatsword was ordinarily difficult to maneuver in such close quarters.
Ankh’s weapon, however, was a lightweight magic greatsword. Although the two attackers forced him backward, he handled it with practiced skill.
The enemy leader and the second swordsman had intended to eliminate Ankh quickly and then assist the spearman. Their inability to do so surprised them.
“This one is their ace! Keep the pressure on him!”
The leader abandoned the idea of helping the others and focused on Ankh.
Then something he hadn’t expected occurred.
The dagger-wielder was defeated almost immediately by a child.
“Damn it! I’ll hold the greatsword user. You deal with the brat!”
The leader ordered the other swordsman toward Tauro, then slashed at Ankh.
“Take this—Double Shadow Slash!”
His distinctive technique produced two simultaneous slashes.
“Not bad!”
Ankh answered with a wind-infused flying slash, canceling both attacks.
“You stopped my Double Shadow Slash?!”
The leader stared in shock.
It had been years since he had met an opponent capable of nullifying the technique.
“Double Shadow Slash… So you’re Shado, the mercenary known as ‘No Need for Two Swords.’”
“! If you know that name… that black armor and red hair… You’re Ankh—the ‘Black-Clad Red Ogre,’ aren’t you? You’re still alive!”
“Don’t declare me dead. I simply retired. No wonder you’re strong. Back then, hearing your name was enough to make me careful never to become your enemy.”
“I avoided you too when I was active. I never imagined we’d meet somewhere other than a battlefield… And you’re even stronger than the rumors claimed!”
Shado suddenly attacked, hoping to catch Ankh off guard.
Ankh reacted without hesitation.
“I might have lost to you back then, but you’re no match for me now.”
With one swing of his magic greatsword, Ankh severed Shado’s blade and carried the momentum into a second strike that felled him.
At nearly the same moment, Ragune overwhelmed the spearman with her magic spear and defeated him without difficulty.
Tauro relentlessly pressured the remaining swordsman with the speed of Shortsword Tauro.
Confronted by the overwhelming difference between himself and the child before him, the swordsman dropped his weapon and surrendered.
“T-That’s impossible! All five were veteran mercenaries capable of matching highly skilled adventurers!”
Grado, who had presented himself as a merchant, abandoned his carriage and turned to flee.
Zion easily caught him before he could escape.
“Damn it!”
Grado continued cursing, unable to accept his defeat.
“Garde-san, the territorial capital is our next destination, correct?”
“Y-Yes, sir! We’ll go there next!”
After witnessing the battle, Garde answered Tauro with involuntary deference.
“Then we’ll hand these men over to the territorial soldiers there.”
Tauro turned to the village chief.
“Chief, the man you were dealing with is dangerous. Strictly speaking, cultivating and selling this crop may also make the village responsible for a crime. However, you don’t appear to have understood its true purpose, so I’ll report the circumstances and ask that leniency be shown. The village can’t simply be stripped of its livelihood, either. I’ll speak to Count Graunewald and make sure another means of supporting everyone here is considered.”
“What?”
Both the chief and Garde stared at the boy in confusion when he casually mentioned their lord.
“This is my other identity.”
For the first time, Tauro took his territorial-inspector certificate from [Magic Storage] and showed it to them.
“T-That’s our lord’s crest!”
The chief was so shocked that he immediately prostrated himself.
The villagers who had gathered nearby were thrown into confusion when they saw their chief bowing to the young adventurer.
Garde simply stared blankly at the adventurer he had hired—an adventurer who had suddenly produced the credentials of a territorial inspector and reduced the chief to prostration.
His knees had gone weak, making the sight rather comical.
“And that settles the matter! Ho, ho, ho!”
Tauro delivered the sort of line an elderly authority figure might use at the end of a period drama from his previous life, satisfied that the immediate crisis had been resolved.