Chapter 45: The Beauty of the Country

「Muno, get a grip! The wound is not serious, you know!?」

「Anyone, bring me a stretcher!」

Muno-kun, who sank to the ground after losing his consciousness due to Haru’s blow, was carried away by Canon and the others. Well, he wasn’t particularly injured but just knocked unconscious, so he should be fine. However, he didn’t waver until the end. It’s quite a sight to see.

「Ha-Haruna, when did you become this strong!? You look like a different person than you did a week ago, you know!?

「Ahaha~, I somehow came this far with efforts and willpower as usual.」

Chinatsu grabs Haru by the shoulders and shakes her. Her best friend seems to be surprised that she overpowered a knight, albeit a newbie, in this short period of time. Yes, Haru’s growth speed even surprised me, her master.

「Also, it’s thanks to Shishō’s teachings. If my master isn’t Shishō, I probably wouldn’t be as strong as I am.」

「Deris-san? …… Amazing.」

A slight respect was added to the gaze that was full of suspicion. Keep it up, Haru. Build my reputation even more. Fufufu.

「Are you thinking something weird?」

「Not at all. More importantly, Nell, Haru defeated your subordinate in an instant, so you understand that her ability is good enough, don’t you? So, we can end the test here, right?」

「Well… I guess I’ll give her a passing mark.」

If Haru got a passing mark, then Muno-kun would be failed, though.

「Don’t look at me like that. I’m talking about our war potentials. In the first place, I didn’t count Canon and Muno in. The purpose of taking them is to forge their willpower. If I don’t give them scary experiences, they won’t be useful in case of an emergency.」

「Haa, you are spartan as usual…」

「I don’t want to be told that by you.」

Well, we are done here now, let’s go home. With that in mind, I tried to call out to Haru who was talking with Chinatsu. But, Haru was in front of Nell before I know it.

「Nell-san. Can you check my ability directly?」

「Me? Are you sure?」

「Yes!」

「No, don’t say ‘yes’ there. Haru, I’m telling you this for your own good, you should stop that. Nell is someone who doesn’t know how to hold back. You will die, I’m serious.」

「Deris, I’ll beat you if you say more.」

Nell begins to let out a pressure, filled with murderous intent, at me while smiling, but I have to stop this at any cost. Even with Haru’s monster mentality and rapid growth, it’s too early to fight Nell. I don’t think Nell can adjust her power to match her opponent’s power, so she will come with her own output. Even I can’t bring the dead back to life. There is a limit to how far things can go.

「Shishō, I can’t? No matter what?」

「You can’t. I’m not a demon who will let his disciple die in front of her best friend.」

「Hey, what does that mean?」

「That’s exactly what it means.」

―――― Crack.

I heard a hallucination that as if the space was cracked. Ah, I hope it was just a hallucination. It seems that I made a slight mistake.

「…… Okay, then let’s do this. I absolutely won’t attack and move, so Haruna can attack me with all her might. This way, I will measure her true ability.」

「Shishō, Nell-san has compromised this much, so I have no other choice but to do this!」

This is bad. The flow goes to where Haru and Nell will fight. Nell is getting stubborn and Haru shows no sign of stopping.

For Haru, who has been learning many martial arts from scratch and experiencing various competitions, it seems that going all out against a strong opponent is the shortest and best way to learn. And now that strong point has taken a turn for the worse.

「…… Nell, can you promise not to fight back?　Absolutely, okay?

This is not a joke. This is serious.

「Okay, I promise in the name of the Knight Order. Let’s change place so that you can go all out. I’m not going to be like Muno, you know?」

「Yes! I’ll be in your care!」

Haru, whose eyes are shining, and Nell, who is full of motivation, have begun to walk to the training ground of the knight order. I could only watch them from behind with Chinatsu. Let’s assume the worst case and be ready to use recovery magic instantly, yeah….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as we moved to the training ground, the knights who were training moved away with perfect coordination. That coordination was very natural. They sure are experienced.

「Oi, you know what? It seems there’s a reckless person who will do a mock battle with Nell-danchō.」n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

「There you go joking again, I won’t be fooled. There’s no such person in this country. No matter how big a country is, they won’t attack if there’s Nell-danchō here. Only a naive conceited person or a suicidal person who wants a grand death will challenge her.」

「Well, there’s even a rumor that the King can’t go against her. I guess the only person who can complain to her is Joseph-sama, huh?」

「I also heard a rumor that she can rival the Demon King. Moreover, that’s the Great Eight Demons class.」

「Ohh, it’s scary that I’m convinced without doubting it. Has anyone seen Nell-danchō gets serious?」

「Nah. It’s dangerous to get close when she gets serious.」

「「「You have a point.」」」

Even those who were outside the training grounds are gathered here while having such conversations. The crowd of people even attracted the castle’s servants and soldiers, and by the time Haru and Nell finished preparing, it had become a bit of a festival.

「I wonder if it’s really okay…」

「Um, is Nell-shishou that strong?」

When I was sighing while looking at the onlookers, Chinatsu asked me so anxiously.

「Hmm? You don’t know that even though you are her disciple?」

「Well, in fact, I’ve only recently formed a master-disciple relationship and I haven’t fought her yet. I just moved from the castle to the knights’ headquarters here….」

「Ah, I see.」

That means, Chinatsu will see hell after this, huh. Let’s pray for her while I can. No, even Nell won’t kill her disciple in normal times, I hope so. Yeah, let’s treat her kindly even if it’s only me. Let’s do so.

「I’m sure you’re aware that Nell is the most powerful person in Adelheit, right?」

「Yes. The knights around me taught me that I should never go against her.」

「Yeah, you’d better do that. Basically, that woman won’t say anything wrong, so just do that.」

「Y-Yes…」

「Nell now has a noblewoman etiquette and a graceful atmosphere. She also acted as a knight leader and is respected. But, she was a tomboy and emotional when she was an adventurer with me, so she caused a lot of problems. I will skip the details, but it was at the level of destroying a country.」

「A country!?」

Yes, a country. Back then, I think Nell was still in her early teens. Now she has mellowed considerably. Although, now that she is no longer honest with herself, making her more difficult to deal with.

「To be honest, even I don’t want to fight her head-on. Her power and battle sense is better than me after all. It’s still easier to deal with the Demon King’s army alone.」

She sure is different than she was in the past. She can regulate her power better than in the past. She also can control her emotions better than in the past.

…… Yes, ‘than in the past’. However, ‘I will go easy on you, so come at me’, even if a speaking nuclear says so, I can’t trust it. My current state of mind is like that.

「S-Say, Haruna will be okay, right? She won’t get hurt or anything, right!? Nell-shishou said that she won’t fight back, right!?」

「… Let’s pray to God. I hope that it ended with only injury.」

Haru, come back alive. That’s today’s assignment.