Chapter 2076: Date Plan Execution ⑱
Unlike Alice, who might greet you with a bright smile while harboring hidden thoughts in her mind…… Megiddo-san is free of pretense. In a way, her lack of duplicity makes dealing with her simpler.
Well, I understand that for the two of them, it’s not every day they encounter one of the Six Kings. I should step in to smooth things over where necessary.
[……So, Kaori-san and Akane-san, what brings you to this town?]
[Unn? Ahh, errr…… Well, I brought Kaori here to accompany me to shop for clothes. She said she hadn’t shopped much outside of Friendship City, so I thought I’d take her to this town known for its fashion.]
[Exactly. I did have that Teleportation Magic Tool at Kaito-kun’s ship party, but teleportation fees can be pretty steep for unfamiliar destinations. And it’s not often I get a chance to visit places like Hydra Kingdom. Akane-san kindly brought me here.]
Akane-san is skilled with Teleportation Magic and can apparently even perform World Coordinates-based Teleportation. When I once asked her if learning about World Coordinates was tough, she replied “When I think of a place I want to go, the coordinates just pop into my head; I just have to fine-tune it.”, so that unique talent might be part of her peculiarity as an Otherworlder.
[I see…… So Akane specializes in Teleportation but your other skills aren\'t much…… The magic abilities of you Otherworlders really are fascinating. Being highly skilled in Advanced Teleportation but weak in other magic is quite an extreme imbalance. And Kaori, for a Human, you’re pretty strong. You’d easily surpass the average knight.]
[Eh? Kaori-san is that strong?][I- I don’t know. I did travel solo for several years and fought monsters along the way, so…… to some extent, I guess?]
According to Megiddo-san, Kaori-san is considered exceptionally strong for a Human, which was rather surprising. I’d heard she was proficient with Water Magic, but I hadn’t imagined her power exceeded that of most knights.
At that moment, Akane-san pointed at Kaori-san and spoke up.
[……Kaori can cause a tsunami on flat, dry land though.]
[A- Ahaha…… That takes a lot of energy, and there’s no real point in creating a tsunami on dry land.]
[You’re capable of even more powerful Water Magic than I’d thought huh.]
Kaori-san gave a wry smile, but the ability to summon a tsunami on barren land…… That’s far beyond what I imagined. It’s possible that, among those from Earth, excluding Neun-san, Kaori-san has the greatest solo combat strength.
As this thought crossed my mind, I turned sharply to look at Megiddo-san.
[Megiddo-san, don\'t pick a fight with her, okay?]
[Hey, even I wouldn’t do that out of nowhere…… W- Why are you looking at me like that? No, seriously, I only propose a fight right off the bat with people I really like, okay?]
When I gave her a look that said “You challenged me to a fight the first time we met", Megiddo-san became slightly flustered and tried to explain…… She\'s explaining herself? Could it be that she thought of this as a compliment?
Picking a fight at first sight as a sign of high regard…… Is she some kind of barbarian? No, actually, scratch that———- she’s basically a barbarian already.
As I mulled this over, Megiddo-san looked at me like she was offended.
[Look, it’s just that Shalltear makes it sound all dramatic for her amusement. I’m not some battle-crazed lunatic who only thinks about fighting, or someone who recklessly picks fights left and right with no self-control, okay?]
[……You barged into a fight between Alice, Isis-san, and Magnawell-san, which had absolutely nothing to do with you, and made the situation worse.]
[Urgh……Ah, no, that was just, you know…… a rare opportunity so…… you get me, yeah?]
[Then there’s you getting into a fight with Alice during the Six Kings Festival and getting scolded by Kuro.]
[……C- Come on, there’s no point standing around on the street like this! Let’s get back to shopping! Since we’ve met here, Kaori and Akane, you two come along too. I’ll show you my favorite shops!]
Trying to convince me she’s not a battle maniac or a troublemaker……. Megiddo-san awkwardly changed the subject when I flat-out denied her claims. She might not have much self-control, but at least she seems somewhat self-aware.
[……Wow, that guy’s quite extreme. How can you talk to the War King like that?]
[Kaito-kun sure is just like usual. And somehow, it feels like we just got roped into hanging out with the War King-sama…… Uuuu, my stomach hurts.]
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [Kaori\'s actually pretty strong?]
? ? ? : [Aside from Neun-san, she’s by far the strongest among the Otherworlders. Her Water Magic is highly versatile———– She can do basic stuff like Water Cutter, or as shown before, she can precisely control it to wrap water just in a person\'s nose. With her level of control, she could even cover an opponent’s face with water to suffocate them.]
Serious-senpai : [Stomachache Warriors tend to have high combat power huh…… Ah, no, I guess Eris is an exception huh……]