“Majesty, you forget the trouble that must be addressed at the castle,” Minister Cordobal said, letting a stern note enter his voice. Her Majesty seemed to be perfectly well aware of this “trouble,” because she stuck out her lip petulantly, but didn’t object further.
It was Hikaru-sama who asked curiously, “What kind of trouble?”
Minister Cordobal’s handsome face softened a little; then, sounding as if he might let out a sigh at any moment, he said: “There is an epidemic at the castle.”
“An epidemic, sir?”
“Several of those who serve at the castle have been felled by it. This sickness has no precedent that we know of, and the medicaments of our physicians show no effect on it. We’re at a loss how to deal with it. It doesn’t kill quickly, but produces a high fever. It could be quite dangerous for children and the elderly, those without much physical stamina.”
“My goodness...” Minori-sama said. It seemed this was quite a problem in the castle town. “I’m sorry, we didn’t know. We didn’t mean to call you away at a time like that.”
“Think nothing of it,” Her Majesty replied. “Once we have ascertained the situation and given orders to deal with it, we will come again. In the meantime, we entrust Shinichi to your care.” Then she and Minister Cordobal boarded a carriage waiting just outside the gate of the mansion along with a contingent of royal guards, and they all left for the castle.
We were surrounded by enemies.
There was no way out.
We stood with our backs to each other and got ready to fight.
We were facing down several Sabre Beasts, creatures like a wolf but black as night, with eyes the color of blood. They stared us down, then opened their huge, fanged jaws and attacked.
I brought up my halberd and stabbed at one of the monsters.
Critical hit!
The creature expired with only a short yelp. They were unnatural things, man-made, and when they died they didn’t leave behind so much as a skeleton. I made sure the Sabre Beast was completely gone, then turned to the next enemy.
Or at least, I had planned to. But the next instant, the Sabre Beast came back to life.
No, that wasn’t quite it—no sooner had I killed the last one than another came up to take its place, attacking me when my attention lapsed.
I tried to counterattack, but it was too late.
I’m done for...!
Even as the thought crossed my mind, though, the new Sabre Beast died, too, the victim of a massive metal hammer that came swinging in from the side.
Gen’ei Setsuna: “Thanks, GalGaiGar. You saved my neck.”
I said gratefully. The wielder of the giant hammer was one of my party members, GalGaiGar. She was a diminutive girl; the hammer she carried was taller than she was and much, much heavier, and could dish out one-hit-kill attacks.
GalGaiGar, though, didn’t answer me. She just silently went about smashing more monsters.
Behind her, the martial artist Yakiniku and the swordsman Kyouya were putting on a great show. Kyouya would get a foe’s attention with a quick feint, then when he had them right where he wanted them, he would strike one swift, fatal blow. He’d be turning to the next enemy almost before I had time to be impressed, but Yakiniku launched a ball of chi over his shoulder, blowing the monster away before Kyouya even got to it.
Miyuu: “Setsuna-sama, let me heal you.”
Gen’ei Setsuna: “Thanks.”
Behind us, we diligently kept our monk-healer, Miyuu, safe. In return, she kept us in good health. My HP had dropped to almost half, but in a flash I got it all back.
If we could just get through these Sabre Beasts, we’d be almost at the boss. But every enemy we had to defeat sapped our strength.
†Obsidian Fallen Angel†: “I’m ready, everyone.”
We had another protector with us, the wizard †Obsidian Fallen Angel†. We’d been warned: we scrambled to get out of the area of effect of her immensely powerful spell.
†Obsidian Fallen Angel†: “Eternal Force Blizzard!”
She invoked the forbidden ice magic, the most powerful of its kind. It was almost unstoppable, and there were few who could use it. Our foes were suddenly encased in ice. They died instantly.
........................
So, basically, the Sabre Beasts surrounding us were wiped out in one fell swoop. Man, Eternal Force Blizzard was something else. The kanji name of the spell alone was enough to be intimidating.
Gen’ei Setsuna: “Yes! Great work, that was a team victory. Thanks everyone.”
Miyuu: “We really did it, Shinichi-sama.”
The instant those words appeared on the display, I groaned.
Gen’ei Setsuna: “Buzz! Myusel!”
Miyuu: “Oh! S-Sorry...”
I could practically hear the rush of apology in the words. I looked at the screen, sighed, then grabbed the drink sitting next to my computer and took a swig. Then I went back to typing:
Gen’ei Setsuna: “No OOC talk allowed! That’s the rule in online games!”
†Obsidian Fallen Angel†: “Whatever, Shinichi-san. I know these games are about escapism, but seriously—Gen’ei Setsuna? I’ve known actual middle schoolers who didn’t have chuunibyou so bad, haha.”
Gen’ei Setsuna: “Last thing I wanna hear from a guy who looks like his idea of a wizard came from the doodles he did during math class ten years ago, Hikaru-san. †Obsidian Fallen Angel†, lolololol”
†Obsidian Fallen Angel†: “Sure you want to go down that road? Pretty sure I have the better name here.”
Kyouya: “All right, both of you, that’s enough. There is to be no arguing online.”
GalGaiGar: “We are a great brave! A king among braves!”
Gen’ei Setsuna: “Oops, that’s enough of that, GalGaiGar.”
Come to think of it, I’d lent Petralka a few DVDs last month when she’d asked me for some new recommendations. I guess she had really gotten into them, which was nice.
Yakiniku: “meat! like!”
Miyuu: “i wanted to have a japanese name. i asked minorisama for help.”
Kyouya: “This is actually the name I use when I’m doing cosplay.”
Oh yeah, Minori-san
