Chapter 203

Mock Fight

I decided to accept the mock fight .

It was alright to just refuse or leave it to Meat, but I want to test out the clothes golem that I had record an A-Rank adventurer’s movements (Misha’s) .

Meat and Ichika have their own way of fighting, so they only use it for its power assist .

Because of all that, we went out to the inn’s back yard . Meat was with me, of course . It’d obviously be bad to be alone with these two mysterious people .

“I’m good any time!”

“Please go easy on me, I’m usually in the rear as a mage . ”

I faced off against Setsuna . Not holding my sword, I was using gloves meant for mock fights . Misha’s movements were based on a grappler’s, so I can’t use a sword . Well, she herself could probably use one, but I didn’t have her show me how she used one .

However, magic is another case entirely . Doing the incantation for [Water], a ball of water floated above the ground .

“It’d be dangerous if I used fire after all . ”

“This is a mock fight, but it’s alright if you don’t hold back . ”

Setsuna warmed up by jumping around . Her chest also leapt up and down . It’s fun to watch, but isn’t that painful?

“Well then, I’m coming . ”

“Yeah, I’ll take your first shot . ”

Setsuna held up her fists . At the same moment, I shot forward with the ball of water .

I left my body the the clothes golem while I focused on using magic . It was a bit painful, but I had to put up with it .

I came at her with a punch—which felt like it would give me some muscle pains by itself later on—but she blocked it with the back of her hand, pushing it aside . As for the ball of water, she punched out and burst it with her other hand .

“Hey now, weren’t you a mage?”

“This’ll turn into one-on-one fight anyway, yeah? I figured it was better to just skip the hassle . ”

The conventional clothes golem’s performance couldn’t reproduce most of Misha’s, an A-Rank adventurer’s, martial arts . At most, slowly imitating her slowed-down movements was the limit .

However, right now, I’m able to reproduce about 50% of Misha’s ability . This was thanks to the newly developed supporting joints with orichalcum in them .

“Ahaha, Village Chief-san, you’re something . ”

“I’m overworking myself quite a bit here though . ”

Setsuna’s fist blasted out towards my face, piercing through the area . My neck shot backwards, moving my head to avoid the blow, but the jolting movement rocked my head, giving me some damage . Ugeeeh .

My body’s going to break down if I do too much here . Maybe I should just focus on enduring these abrupt, crazy movements rather than using magic?

Setsuna’s attacks kept on flowing smoothly . Low kick, roundhouse kick, backhand fist, head-butt, grab, elbow, jab, backhand fist, downward fist… I don’t have any time to breathe . I would’ve been knocked out by the first strike if I didn’t have Misha’s footwork helping me out here .

The damage I took from getting shook about was relatively light since I was avoiding her attacks with the minimum movement required, geeh… uoh, I suddenly swayed backward there .

There’s a bit of distance between us . I started chanting the incantation for [Water] and—ugeh, I got interrupted . I don’t actually have to chant anything, but I really don’t want to show her that I don’t need to . Faking the incantations is also out of the question since there’s a chance that Setsuna might realize it .

I barely finished stuttering out the incantation all the way and sent a water ball her way, but—

“Ho—”

She easily burst it apart .

I give up, there’s nothing I can use . My head’s all fuzzy, I need to breathe .

Woah, my vision just went black . Guhaaah . I just want to go unconscious and go to sleep right here .

“H-hah, c-can we stop here?”

“Eeeh? But it just started to get fun . ”

“I’m at my limi—woah!”

I lost my footing and fell backwards out of breath .

“—Kuh . ”

“Take thi—…!?”

I grabbed Setsuna’s chest as she started swinging her fist down towards me with all I had, throwing her over me .

Bang!

It was so unexpected and beautifully done that you could call it a perfect [Full Point] . [1]

… Come to think of it, there were moves like that too huh…

“Nkuu . You got me, Village Chief-san . It really just looked like you were falling . ”

“… Y-yeah . It was just by chance… Well, that should be enough . ”

“I lost huh… that’s the first time I’ve lost in this village . ”

“It’s more like a draw . Rather, it’s my loss . I can’t even move anymore . ”

My breathing’s already ragged . Meanwhile, Setsuna is still full of spirit . Moreover, it looks like she still has a trump card left over . I mean, she hasn’t used any skills at all .

I’d definitely die from oxygen deprivation if we kept going . I should put a limiter or something on the clothes golem…

Rather, I was thinking about going and losing at a reasonable spot there, but ended up not . Grah . No choice but to insist that it was my loss .

“No, you said you were as strong as a B-Rank and there’s no doubting that . It’s my loss, I give up . ”

“No no, for Village Chief-san to do such a great throw there at the end, you’re strong . ” [2]

“No no no, it’s obvious that I can’t even move anymore . It’s my complete loss . ”

“No no no no, it was my loss the moment you decided it with the throw . ” [3]

Both of us still on the ground, it somehow turned into a downward spiral of us each trying to lose to the other .

… For this fight, the winner is the loser!

“Ah, then how about a draw?”

“… Alright, let’s agree on that . ”

“We tied then! — Well, I still think that I’m the one who lost though!”

“The heck, I’m the one who thinks they lost! — Let’s stop . We’ll just do that all over . ”

“Ahaha . ”

In the end, we agreed to compromised and decided that it was a draw .

“Good work . As expected of Goshujin-sama . ”

“I said Village Chief-san was strong, but your stamina is beyond abysmal . Are you injured anywhere?”

“Hahaha…”

Holding my body up, Meat handed me a cup of water . I moved my tired arm to take it from her and drank…

Aah, that was great .

At the very least, I figured out that I could use a good amount of Misha’s martial arts . Looks like using it won’t kill me .

Of course, even if I were killed, I’m transformed into [Myself], so I’d be alright .

Should I say I’m relieved that it wasn’t needed? I mean, I really don’t want to try out dying .

By the way, even if the thing I’m transforming into is myself, I still suffer the ability restriction . It doesn’t affect my physical ability, but I can’t use things like my signature move, [Create Golem] . It’s the same if I transform into other people too . I can’t use most of their abilities at all .

“Hey, Kuro-senpai . Want to have a go? I lost to Village Chief-san, so I’m pretty pumped right now~”

“… I accept . I won’t lose this time . ”

Oi, we we tied!

I retorted in my head .

Meat faced off against Setsuna, her wooden knife made for mock fights held in her hands .

And then a high level mock fight began .

Slicing, sweeping, striking, dodging, kicking, getting hit, grabbing, twisting, throwing, repeating it all . Everything kept happening as even their positions switched back and forth . When I thought one was to the left, they were to the right . When I thought they were to the right, they were suddenly soaring upward . My eyes are spinning just from watching them .

… I still haven’t made any orichalcum joint supports for Meat yet though…

I collected and used all of the orichalcum I’d used in [White Beach] for my supports, but the orichalcum for Meat’s will be coming from the orichalcum sword I got from [Father] .

(I finished the research and development of it during the Dungeon Battle’s preparation phase, so I made it immediately . )

Huh? Was I moving like that just a bit ago too? Seriously? No wonder I felt so dizzy .

“Fuh—! Hyah!”

“Kuh, but…!”

Just then, in the instant that Meat slashed down towards Setsuna with her wooden knife, Setsuna broke the knife with her fist .

“Guess it’s my win?”

“Kuh, I can still go . ”

Meat threw the broken knife towards Setsuna, running along the ground towards her with her remaining knife . There was a dull sound of something hard hitting flesh as they passed each other . The broken knife she’d thrown at Setsuna dropped at Setsuna’s feet .

What just happened…?

“U-ugu…”

“Unfortunate . Almost, but not quite, Kuroinu-chan . ”

Meat crouched forward, her hand pressed against her head .

Apparently, Meat tried to slash at her shin as she passed her, but it looks like rather than meeting her mark, she was knee’d in the head . That looks painful .

“I lost…”

“Wanna have another go? I can keep on however long you want . I love strong children, so come at me!”

“Umm…”

Meat glanced at me . I gently put my hand on Meat’s head… Ah, I can’t use [Healing] either . [Super Transformation]’s restrictions are pretty hash .

“Well, I’m going to head back to my room . Do what you want . ”

“… I’ll go too . ”

“That so? Well then, Setsuna, let’s stop here . Please practice with Kuro next time . ”

“Muu, unfortunate . I’ll let you go for today, but I’ll definitely win against Village Chief-san next time!”

“Well, you can just say you won already . I’m tired, so I’m going to head to bed . Night . ”

“That’s no good~! We’ll have a proper bout to decide it, night~!”

I waved to Setsuna as I returned to my room .

Ending [Super Transformation], I used [Healing] on Meat and myself . Aaah, that’s so much better .

Setsuna is generally strong . I don’t know how strong Nayuta is, but she’s very knowledgeable about alchemy .

… I’d like to keep these sisters as allies . They aren’t unreasonable existences like the Hero or Rin, so I think I could handle them if something happens . At least, I think I could .

Let’s think about what to do with them while I sleep . I’ve already done enough today, it’s time to clock out .

I wonder if I could use the godly comforter… no, let’s stop there . I’m a child that can wait . It’s not like I’m just wanting to use muscle soreness and fatigue as an excuse to stay asleep or anything . It’s also not like I felt a bit of chills there for a moment or anything .

Footnotes:

Judo reference: Ippon . [Full Point] is the most valuable judgement that can be awarded for any single action . It also means [Winning in One Blow] . She uses ‘ippon’ for ‘great throw’ in this line, but isn’t using the Judo reference per se . It’s more of a ‘goody’ for readers, from what I can tell . Couldn’t find a way to make it transfer over into English as well, though . See 2 .