Chapter 165

After reuniting with Lucas-sama and Eva, we met up with Kazuki at the inn and rested until Welsey-san and Sigurds-san returned to prepare for tomorrow.

I wasn’t physically tired because of my travel experience, but I was mentally tired. After all, I had met Prince Kyle and Princess Nia of Kalm Helio, Lucas-sama, and Eva all in one day. I needed some time to sort out the information.

But as I was gathering my thoughts in my room, I was greeted by a voice that said, “Usato-kun, I’m here to play!” Like a high school boy raiding the room of his classmate’s friend, senpai invaded my room.

I was taken aback by the fact that senpai was the same no matter where she was, but I also realized that I might have been too nervous with an important meeting in front of me, so I suggested that we invite Kazuki.

So the three of us gathered in one room, and until the sun went down and Welsey-san, Sigurd-san and the others arrived at the inn, we were chatting about trivial things.

“So, ladies and gentlemen. I will explain to you the details of the meeting that will take place tomorrow.”

And now, after a rather unfamiliar and opulent dinner, me, senpai, Kazuki, and Welsey-san were gathered in a room lined with pre-prepared chairs and tables to explain the plans for tomorrow’s meeting.

“Today, the representatives of the Kingdom of Calm Helio, the Kingdom of Nirvana, the Kingdom of Samaria, and us, the Kingdom of Lingle, are all here. With all the participating countries present, it has been decided that the meeting will take place tomorrow.”

Although I had relaxed somewhat, I still felt nervous when I heard that a serious meeting was going to take place.

“As I told you before, this meeting is also meant to be a meeting between you and your representatives, so please behave in a manner befitting your titles.”

“Yeah we understand, right Usato?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll be in commander mode at tomorrow’s meeting.”

I agreed with Kazuki’s words, and smiled with an air of grumpiness between my eyebrows. Then Welsey-san gave a twitching smile and nodded her head.

Senpai asks her a question.

“How long do you think the talk will be?”

“The talk will end depending on what they are about. …… probably won’t be over in a day. The number of reinforcements that will join each kingdom in fighting the Demon King’s army. The number of reinforcements that will join each kingdom in fighting the Demon King’s army, the expected burden and damage caused by that, and other details must be discussed and decided in detail.”

“I see. It certainly won’t be the end just by asking for help, will it? We also have to think about what happens after the battle with the Demon King’s army.”

I thought to myself that it was rude but a bit unexpected to see senpai mumbling and pondering like that.

“Ah, you’re looking a bit like the student council president right now.”

“You were also the student council president in the original world ……?”

“It’s turned into a complete dead setting now, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. I can make use of the student body president setting if I really try!”

Even though she’s wearing a catsuit, I was sure that she was actually the cool beauty student council president.

Nowadays, she’s a cool beauty (lol), even though she’s a comical, emotional and fun senpai.

“Ha, I’ll keep talking. So, ……, it was suddenly decided today, Usato-sama.”

“Yes?”

“In the middle of the meeting, they want you, who has experience fighting alone with the leader of the Demon King’s army, to explain the situation at the time of the fight.”

“……What?”

In a meeting where each country is represented, I’m going to explain the situation when I fought with Koga?

I’m not used to speaking in front of a large number of people, so this was an incredibly difficult task for me.

That’s exactly what the student council president, senpai, would have done for me.

“We offered to provide an explanation, but the two representatives of Nirvana and Calm Helio kingdoms insisted on hearing it from Usato-sama’s mouth. …… I’m sorry.”

“Oh, please don’t apologize! But I’m not allowed to talk about what happened in Hinomoto …… the Land of Beasts …….”

This was because the civil disturbance that had occurred in Hinomoto was something that could have become a major incident that could affect the human realm if it was not handled properly. If it was brought to the attention of people who represented the country, rather than people who didn’t have a deep knowledge of beastmen, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t change their attitudes towards beastmen into something radical.

“No, we explained it in the form of stopping the Demon King’s army’s attempt to ask for cooperation from the beastman race.”

“Then it seems to be okay.”

I’m not lying.

It’s true that the Demon King’s Army, Koga and the others negotiated with Jinya-san, the chief of the Beastman Tribe, in order to ask for his cooperation.

The process is that we ended up fighting Koga after we moved to stop them and to help Amako, but ……. The process is complicated, but the result is true.

“Usato-sama’s explanation is not about what led up to the fight with the Legion Commander, but about his incredible combat power. To be honest, only Usato-sama, the knight Arc-san, and …… Rose-sama are the only ones who have experience fighting a demon race with legion leader class abilities.”

Rose too? Could it be the demon, Nero Argento, who has damaged her right eye?

…… No, that’s not something to worry about now, is it?

“But as a healing magician, should I be the one explaining everything? Isn’t the perception of healing magic still the same in other countries?”

“No need to worry about that. The kingdoms of Samaria and Calm Helio also recognize you, though in different ways. And the Kingdom of Nirvana, …… will probably be fine.”

“What? Why?”

Only the Nirvarna Kingdom’s wording seemed a bit strange to me. ……

“The Nirvana Kingdom is, how should I put it ……, a group of people who rely on their arm strength in both good and bad ways, so I think Usato-sama will be fine.”

“……”

She gave me a big smile.

Kazuki was nodding his head in agreement, and I wondered if the representatives of the Nirvana Kingdom were the kind of people who could tell your fighting strength just by looking at your muscles.

Or are they the kind of people who would accept a fistfight? That’s easy to do. ……Or not! That’s not the right thing to do! I’m a normal civilized person, even if I can look like Rose! I can’t be so savage as to decide everything with my fists!

“Oh, but don’t worry. The representative is a very cheerful person.”

“Ha, ha. ……”

While giving a vague reply to the information that I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or not, I was growing anxious about tomorrow’s meeting.

In the early morning hours of the day of the meeting, just after the sun had come up, I was doing my daily training to drown out the tension of the meeting.

It wasn’t exactly my usual training, as I was preparing for an important meeting, but I could forget my anxiety and nervousness by moving my body.

What I didn’t expect, however, was that there was someone else using the training grounds this early in the morning.

“Hmph!　Nuh-uh!　Oooraaa!”

There is one skinny man who has been training against the targets in the training ground since a while ago.

In the right hand is a hatchet, and in the left hand is a circular shield made mostly of iron. From the sidelines, the man who was manipulating the weapons with tremendous speed and power looked like a man of considerable ability.

“And just now, he was using a club and a spear. ……”

What caught my attention most of all was the fact that his fighting style varied greatly depending on the weapon he was handling.

As I was running around the training grounds, wondering who else was training, I suddenly heard a voice calling me.

“Hey, there, boy.”

“Hmm?”

I turned around, wondering, and saw the fearless-looking man who had just been swinging an axe at a target waving his hand at me.

At any rate, he seemed to have called me, so I headed towards him.

The man, who was in his early thirties, was at least a head taller than me, and his body, which looked slender from a distance, seemed to have been worked out quite a bit.

I spoke to him, wondering about his short-cut hair and the cut on his cheek.

“How can I help you?”

“I was just wondering if you were training here like me and I just had to talk to you. Are you a student of Lukvis?”

“No, sir. I’m from the Kingdom of Lingle.”

“Oh, from the Kingdom of Lingle…….”

The man with a hand on his chin and a thoughtful expression on his face.

I’m not sure who the man in front of me is, but I’m wondering if he’s a knight from …… another kingdom? I don’t think he’s going to be as physically exhausted as I am before an important meeting.

“Well, that’s all right for now……. My name is Hyde, and I’m from the kingdom of Nirvana.”

“My name is Usato Ken.”

“Usato ……? I see, so it was you he was talking about.”

“Yes?”

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. More importantly, …… hmm, excuse me.”

“Whoa!”

He slapped me lightly on both shoulders and arms.

I was a little confused by the unmistakable sense of intimidation, but Hyde-san immediately withdrew his hand and gave me a big smile.

“I think I can get along with you!”

“Eh?　Ah, yes.”

He gave me a mysterious muscle understanding, but I wonder what it is.

It’s a personality I’ve never met before. I heard that he was from the kingdom of Nirvana, but I wondered if Kazuki and Welsey-san were really right. ……

If you look behind Hyde-san, you’ll see the weapons he was handling earlier all in one place.. Just from what I can see, there appears to be quite a variety of clubs, spears, halberds, swords, and hatchets.

“You can handle so many weapons?”

“There’s a lot we can handle, but the ones we’re not skilled with are far from top-notch. But our fights are supposed to be about taking the other guy’s weapons at times. If you let your body learn how to handle a certain weapon, you can predict the enemy’s attack and immediately treat the weapon you took as your own.”

“I see…….”

I hadn’t thought of that.

I didn’t realize that if you know how to handle a weapon, you can figure out what to do with it when your opponent is using it.

“Well, I mainly handle axes and shields. Unlike swords, axes aren’t as flowery, but they have their good points. Do you mind if I tell you about them?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, I don’t mind.”

With such a glint in his eyes, I couldn’t help but nod and let him say, “May I speak?” I had no choice but to nod my head.

After nodding in satisfaction, Hyde-san moved away from me, picked up his hatchet and shield from the ground, and swung them lightly.

“It’s strong, heavy, and yet it doesn’t have much to do with spilling the blade. It’s better than a sword in continuous combat.”

“Yes, it’s true that the axe is heavier with each blow, and if the user’s strength is combined, it can smash the opponent’s entire defense head-on. …… In fact, it would even be more terrifying if the blade were to spill out.”

“Yeah, yeah, I understand.”

He understands.

He reminded me of Karon and told him honestly, but he seemed very happy with the response.

“But, you see, the weapon of a skilled axeman is not power. It’s about hooking them.”

“Hook?”

“That’s the part.”

Hyde pointed to the sickle-shaped part of the short-handled axe.

“By hooking the opponent with this sickle-shaped return, you can seize the weapon, block their movement, and stop them. In this way–“

He slammed the handle of his axe against the shoulder of the target, hooked the return, pulled the target with all his might, and struck it with the edge of the shield he held so tightly.

The target was cracked in half by the tremendous blow.

“–You can use it as a springboard for your next attack. Just because you avoided the blade part doesn’t mean you dodged. If you hit him in the shoulder, you can break his stance; if you hit him in the wrist, you can drop the weapon; if you hit him in the knee, you can make him fall; the neck is out of the question. So when you’re dealing with a skilled axeman, you need to not only avoid the blade, but also take precautions afterwards.”

“…… I hadn’t thought of that before.”

“You’re not a threat when you’re wielding force. A true user is more focused on reliably taking away the opponent’s fighting strength than on power.”

Before I knew it, I found myself listening to Hyde-san’s words.

Although I never use weapons, their countermeasures and such are quite useful. Some of the soldiers in the Demon King’s army used axes, so it’s quite informative.

Seeing me listening earnestly, Hyde-san, who had lowered his shield and axe to the ground, let out a lively laugh.

“Hahaha!　It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a young man worth teaching. All the newbies these days don’t even try to know anything other than the weapon they’re handling, seriously……how are they going to fight in a real war when you don’t know your opponent’s fighting style, but …… they’re going to fight on the fly against a weapon they’ve never seen before. ……?”

“Um, Hyde-san?”

“Hmm?　Oh, I’m sorry.”

I’m not sure if this guy is an instructor or something in the kingdom of Nirvarna.

The explanation was easy enough for me to understand, and more importantly, he had an easy personality that made me feel less distant from people from other countries.

“Hmm, it’s about time.”

Hyde-san muttered, looking at the slightly slanted sun.

“Sorry for interrupting your training, Usato.”

“No, it’s been a meaningful time for me as well.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. I should get going, what about you?”

“I’m going back to the inn.”

Hyde-san nodded at my words and started to walk towards the exit of the training ground —– but on his way, he turned around and waved.

“Then I’ll see you at the meeting, young healing magician!”

“!”

Hyde-san walks out of the training ground with a lively laugh.

Based on his last words, did he know about me? Did he know that I was a healing magician just from my name?

I wondered about Hyde-san’s words, but returned to the inn where there was water to wash away the sweat I had worked up.

After meeting the mysterious Hyde-san during my morning training, I dressed myself well and headed to the Great Library where the meeting was to take place.

I saw senpai and Kazuki in their new outfits as I walked through the library under the guidance of Welsey-san.

“I’m the same as usual, but senpai and Kazuki’s outfits are proper.”

Unlike me, who is dressed in the group uniform that symbolizes the Rescue Squad, senpai and Kazuki are dressed in white.

Cloaks stretching from their backs and right shoulders, and light armor with ornaments. They also wore light armor with ornaments, and boots that made it easy for them to move.

There seems to be a difference between men’s and women’s costumes, but both are very cool.

“Yeap. And the overall colour is similar to Usato’s uniform, so there’s a sense of unity.”

“But if it’s all white like this, it’s going to be pretty noticeable…….”

Kazuki chuckles as he puts his hand on his cloak.

It certainly looks like the three of us would stand out quite a bit if we were lined up.

As we’re talking about this, Welsey-san, who’s leading us, turns around.

“It would look very picturesque with all of you lined up.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s true. We will soon be arriving at the auditorium where the meeting will take place, so please prepare yourselves.”

Oops, it’s surprisingly close to the entrance.

It’s called the Great Library, so I thought I’d have to go up some stairs or something, but I guess not. After a little bit of walking, I saw what seemed to be the entrance to the auditorium, just as Welsey-san had said.

At the same time, I saw several men and women standing there with their backs to me, looking at me. When Kazuki saw them, he gave them a nostalgic smile and ran up to them.

“It’s been a long time! Chief warrior!”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s Kazuki! How have you been!”

There were two men and a woman.

When I saw the face of the man who turned around at the sound of Kazuki’s voice, I was in awe.

He is much taller than me, and has a very fearless face.

“No, but you’re still thin. Eat meat, meat.”

“Haha, I think I eat more than most people. Oh, and I’d like to introduce you to some of my friends I told you about before!”

“Yes, I should also greet them as a representative of Nirvana.”

He then looked over and noticed me, smiled, and raised one hand as if he was greeting a friend.

“Oh, it’s been a while since our morning training, Usato. Once again, I’m Hyde, the warrior chief of the Nirvana Kingdom Warriors. Please take care of me today.”

“What?

Not only senpai, but even those who seemed to be Hyde-san’s subordinates on the other side let out a dumbfounded voice.

How could I have predicted that would happen?

Why am I meeting the representative of the Kingdom of Nirvarna before anyone else in the Kingdom of Lingle……?

Author’s Note:

Training fools are drawn to each other: ……!

This was Hyde-san, the fresh muscle of Nirvarna.

In case you’re wondering, I used my own image to describe the use and fighting style of the axe.