Chapter 167

As I realized that I had to explain about the Rapid Healing Fist in the meeting where the representatives of each kingdom were gathered, I was thinking hard about what I should say as I listened to the meeting that had started.

I could tell them, but would they really believe me? ……!　If I didn’t show them, wouldn’t they call me a liar?

No, I’m aware that I’ve done some pretty bad things as a healing magician.

But, but. I didn’t think I’d have to expose myself to that in public ……, so it’s tough.

I’ve been thinking about it for a while now and trying not to show my upset with Rose’s performance, and I’ve been trying to keep my composure by folding my arms and silently continuing to look directly in front of me.

“In the event of a battle against the Demon King’s army, the strength that Samaria can provide is—“

“Then, the amount of supplies needed to prepare the fighting force—“

“What kind of equipment do the demons have, and what kind of physical capabilities do they have?

While I was doing this, the meeting was progressing moment by moment.

We have a general understanding of the situation, but the forces that will be assembled against the Demon King Army will be considerable.

What are the forces that can be brought out from each kingdom?

The supplies to maintain it.

And then there’s the most important thing: the war potential of the Demon King’s army and the physical abilities and magic of the individual demons.

Sometimes we exchange information and opinions.

While the representatives here were holding talks, there was one person in particular who caught my attention.

“Chief Warrior Hyde, don’t you think we should first discuss the main force of the Demon King’s army?”

“That is also important, but the first priority is to solidify the ground strength of our soldiers. When the main force of our side and the main force of the Demon Lord’s army face each other, we should prepare for the battle situation so that our side can maintain the advantage.”

“So, but…”

Perhaps sensing that the conversation between Hyde-san and Princess Naia was about to develop into an argument, Lucas-sama interjected as if to break the flow.

“It’s also important to share information about the Demon King’s army, the one we’re fighting against. With that in mind, may I ask Knight Commander Sigurd, who overcame the invasion of the Demon King’s army twice, if I may speak with him?”

“Of course.”

Lucas-sama, who is probably the most familiar with this kind of situation among all of them, is supporting me to make the meeting go smoothly as he explained to me the other day.

Thanks to Lucas-sama, Welsey-san, who had been so nervous, is now able to relax her shoulders and act as a facilitator, so I’m really glad that he’s here.

“Hey, hey, Usato-kun.”

“Yes? What’s up?”

In the middle of the meeting, senpai spoke to me in a hushed voice.

I tilted my head at her somewhat subtle expression.

“You’ve been glaring at Prince Kyle, who’s sitting across from you for a while now, did he do something to you?”

“Huh? I didn’t mean to. ……”

I replied in the same tone of voice as senpai, and when I looked at Prince Kyle, he was pale as he glanced at me.

I was still pretending to be Rose, so from Prince Kyle’s point of view, it meant that I had been glaring at him the whole time because I was in a bad mood.

I’m sorry about that, I’ll have to make a proper apology later.

“Well, don’t worry about him. …… Usato-kun, are you okay? Are you nervous?”

“No, it’s more like I’m nervous–“

“Usato-sama.”

As I was about to reply to Prince Kyle’s dry seniority with a wry smile, Welsey-san called my name.

I turned around, thinking that I would be blamed for wasting time talking at an important meeting, but judging from the apologetic look on Welsey-san’s face, it seems not.

“Usato-sama, may I ask you to explain about the battle against the Demon King’s Army and the Second Legion Commander in the Land of Beasts?”

“…… Yes.”

Time goes by so fast.

While reaching a point of resignation, I spoke to senpai and Kazuki, keeping my voice low so that only they could hear me.

“Kazuki, senpai.”

“Yes?”

“What’s wrong? Usato.”

When they look at me, I open my mouth with a bit of hesitation.

“I might reveal something ridiculous now, so please smile gently when I do.”

“What the hell are you going to do?”

“What’s really going on?”

I smiled with some resignation at the two who dexterously interrupted me in small voices, and stood up, looking around at the people in the meeting again.

No matter how you look at it, Lucas-sama is grinning at me.

Princess Naia is looking at me with great interest, and Prince Kyle is looking unfaithful.

Hyde-san looks somewhat excited.

No matter how I think about it, I feel like I’m going to be discouraged by these people, but I still organize what I’m going to say in my head before I say it.

“From now on, I’ll explain about Koga Dingal, the commander of the Demon King’s Army’s Second Legion, with whom I fought in the Land of Beasts.”

If this happens, I have no choice but to be resolute.

I’ll be honest with them even if I’m taken back a bit.

As I was making up my mind to do so, Prince Kyle raised his right hand from the seat facing me and spoke up.

“I want you to wait a moment. First of all, as a prerequisite, did the healing magician there really go to the Land of Beasts?”

Instantly, Princess Naia’s clenched fist swung down on Prince Kyle’s head.

“I apologize for my repeated rudeness.”

“Oh, sister! Because that’s right! You don’t even have any proof that this guy went to the country of the beastmen, let alone the commander of the Demon King’s army!”

“The fact that Usato-sama went to the Land of Beastmen is proven by the Queen of the Floating City Mia Rak, Norn Elad Miarak-sama, right? In addition to that, why can’t you see why Lucas-sama and Chief Warrior Hyde, who are present here, don’t point out the questions that even you can notice?”

Prince Kyle returned to his seat with a frustrated look on his face.

In fact, if you ask me for proof, all you have to do is get a sentence from Hayate with his HootBird who signed the contract at Hinomoto…….

Well, let me get back on track and resume my explanation.

“Let’s see, when I went to the beastman country, I encountered Koga, the commander of the second legion, who had already asked for help from the beastman tribe.”

As it was, I explained what had happened in the beastman country, albeit roughly.

Of course, I’ll leave out the civil war and such, but I’ll tell the story of how I came to fight Koga.

In the middle of this, Princess Naia asks me a question.

“What kind of magic did he have?”

“Dark magic.”

After all, dark magic is a rare magic, both in a good way and a bad way, and not only the representative but even the knight who was in charge of the escort revealed his agitation.

“Its ability is to wear a black belt composed of magical power that can be used as both a weapon and armor. The commander of the Second Legion, Koga, wore it and challenged me to a match with his tremendous physical ability.”

“Hmm, so what did you do?”

“Of course, I fought back. I wasn’t losing in terms of physical ability, so I think I was able to compete with him.”

“No, wait, that’s weird.”

I replied to Lucas-sama, and Prince Kyle interrupted me again.

Next to him, Princess Naia held her forehead.

“No, no, no, for once my question is a valid one! Why are you competing against a legion leader with your physical abilities, let alone a demon?”

“Sigh, Kyle.”

Princess Naia looked dumbfounded, but she still tweaked her appeal.

But Lucas-sama, who heard my reply, only laughed pleasantly.

“Hahaha, you’re still the same. It’s still fresh in my mind that you knocked down our Knight Chief with a single fist.”

“Look at that. Lucas-sama also said this.”

“What? You just revealed the fact that you knocked down the chief knight of Samaria…?

Lucas-sama, you’re not amused, are you?

No, this guy has a bit of a mischievous side to him, so I’m sure he’ll at least try to make a reckless move just to take a break from the meeting.

“Back to the topic at hand. My impression of the battle was that Koga’s abilities were quite impressive. Magic that can be used as both a weapon and a shield for any distance, and extraordinary physical abilities. I don’t think there was any way to fight him properly except in close combat.”

“So you’re saying that we should bring him into melee combat?”

I nodded at Hyde-san’s words.

“Yes. But the main problem was that Koga was the best at close combat. In addition to that, his own magical defense was so robust that he could easily prevent even my full force attacks.”

Prince Kyle looked like he wanted to say something, but Princess Naia silenced him with a glare at that.

Now that I think about it, it’s foul to overlap the sashes and prevent them from attacking. From the hardness of that sash, it looks like it won’t let magic or swords through, which is not in its nature.

“So, did you defeat the Second Legion Commander?”

“We were also wounded quite deeply, but we were able to repel him.”

That time was really tough.

It was the first time I had received an attack that could penetrate my body without any thought.

I won’t have to explain how I defeated it if I explain so much. The main subject was to explain the fighting ability and magic of the Second Legion Commander, Koga, so there was no need to explain how I defeated him.

With that in mind, I was about to end the conversation when Hyde-san, who had his hand on his chin, opened his mouth in distress.

“How did you defeat the Second Legion Commander? From what you’ve told me, he was quite an opponent, wasn’t he?”

Hyde-san’s statement made my shoulders shake with guilt.

As if he was suspicious of my reaction, Prince Kyle opened his mouth exuberantly while paying attention to Princess Nia next to him.

“Maybe you didn’t really fight them off, did you?”

“Kyle.”

“No. I’ll tell you what. I honestly don’t believe a word you’re saying. You’re telling me that you’re going to take on a legion leader with nothing but your physical strength, and you’re going to beat him? That’s not really true, is it?”

He smiles and turns to me.

As for me, I was prepared to be told that, so I wasn’t too upset, but I was more worried about Princess Naia, who was becoming more and more swarthy next to me.

“Didn’t you just run away in front of the second corps commander and the like–“

“That’s enough.”

Just as Princess Naia next to him was about to raise her palm expressionlessly, Lucas-sama’s voice interrupted Prince Kyle’s words.

Prince Kyle was taken aback by Lucas-sama’s sudden words.

“If you think about it from a common sense point of view, as he said, it would seem ridiculous that a mere human, even a healing magician, would fight on even terms with a demon race that has physical abilities and magical power that surpasses that of humans.”

“Yes, I suppose it does.”

“But you see, I’ve seen Usato fight right in front of me. That’s why I understand why he can’t put into words what he’s fighting. His fighting is, shall we say, …… so beyond the scope of our common sense.”

After looking around at the people in the meeting, Lucas-sama gives me the same strong-willed look he gave me when we first met.

“I don’t know all the details of his journey after he left my country. But one thing is for sure, Usato Ken is not a man to run away when faced with an opponent to fight. Isn’t that right, Usato?”

“…… Yes.”

…… What the hell am I doing?

I wanted to hide my eccentricity, so I gave Lucas-san a lot of trouble.

I have to be sincere in this situation.

I should have behaved in an appropriate manner as the Vice Commander of the Rescue Squad and above all as Rose’s disciple. Feeling utterly embarrassed by my immaturity and shallowness, I prepared to tell him everything.

“I used a technique called the Rapid Healing Fist in fighting off the …… Second Legion Commander Koga.”

“Healing what?”

Princess Naia tilted her head at the technique with the name “healing”.

The others besides her —— especially senpai who hadn’t heard of it before —— looked up at her with a bit of excitement.

“There’s something I should tell you in explaining this technique. I’m not treating healing magic as a ‘technique to heal people’, but as a ‘technique to subdue an opponent without injury’.”

“How do you use healing magic?”

Hyde-san asks, and I tell him honestly, without getting upset.

“I put healing magic on them, hit them, throw them, throw magic bullets, and try to blind them with magic bullets. It is also possible to work with a user who can handle magic and restrain the opponent.”

“Blinding? Magic? Restraint?”

Princess Naia, who was trying to think seriously, muttered in confusion, but frankly, we hadn’t even gotten to the point yet, so we let the conversation continue.

“Let’s get back to the topic of the healing fist. This technique is the most dangerous of all the techniques I use, so I usually try not to use it, but in the fight with Koga, I had to use it out of necessity.”

“So it’s a dangerous move to use healing magic?”

“Yes, it is.”

I wondered what kind of response I would get.

It’s a technique that even I, the person using it, was surprised by. If Welshey-san here heard the principle of it, she would probably faint.

I took a small deep breath and explained about the healing fist to the people who were looking at me.

“Rapid Healing Fist. It’s a technique where you intentionally unleash systemic enhancement, make it directional, and then strike the opponent in close proximity in succession.”

“Outburst of systemic enhancement……?”

Bang! Hyde-san, rising from his chair with vigour, exclaimed in astonishment.

I’m not sure if the rest of the group understands the danger of what I’m doing, but they can’t hide their surprise.

…… The expression on the face of Welsey-san, who is especially at the edge of my vision, is incredible.

“It is a technique that can only be successful with the aid of a specially made gauntlet. Without it, I’d probably be gone from the elbow up by now.”

“It’s brilliant that you can perform systematic enhancement at that age, but even so, intentional outbursts, etc. …… are not the idea of an ordinary person. ……”

In fact, considering the dangers of systemic enhancement, it’s not surprising that something like that could happen.

Rather, Leona-san lectured me a lot.

I should also be prepared to be lectured by Welsey-san, whose eyesight is going to faint after this.

“…… Did that technique get through to the Second Legion Commander?”

Princess Naia, who was the first to regain her composure here, asks me that.

“Yes. After slamming into him seven times, he finally broke through the defense, so I slammed my fist into his flesh and knocked him out. I was able to fight him off, but in the end, we ended up splitting the pain.”

With my rapid healing fist, I was able to drive Koga into a faint.

However, in the end, the fight ended in a way that was missed.

“Hahaha!”

Hyde-san’s laughter sounded in the silent meeting.

Surprised, I turned my gaze to him and saw that Hyde-san was nodding his head in a deeply emotional manner.

“Lucas-sama is right, this is truly beyond the scope of common sense! I didn’t think that you had done something far beyond my expectations!　That’s absolutely outrageous, the Lingle Kingdom’s rescue squad!”

“Ha, ha …….”

I couldn’t keep up with Hyde-san’s cheerful tension and could only reply vaguely.

Then, Hyde-san turned to me and smiled.

“While you’re here, would you mind if you showed us your healing strikes?”

“Huh?”

“Because I can’t really imagine what it looks like from a verbal description. If you don’t mind, I’d like to see it in action.”

Hyde-san seemed like an excited child when he said that.

I couldn’t help but nod my head, my cheeks twitching.