/
It was now the afternoon.
Raikofu was waiting under the Bell tree, bow and arrow at the ready. He was getting frustrated that the Monster Controller hadn’t appeared yet.
“What is that bastard doing?!”
If things were going according to plan, he should have been here by now. But, there were no signs of that man to be found anywhere.
Raikofu began to feel worried.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have hired some complete stranger for this task. What was I thinking? If something has happened to Tina, I’ll kill him!”
Raikofu had lost his cool and thought about going back to Adventure City before he saw something enter his field of vision. It appeared to be the Monster Controller.
“Finally!!”
The cyclops was dashing through the grass fields.
But, for some reason the cyclops was pulling a cart. He didn’t specify any transportation method but he couldn’t understand why he would have a cart and was flustered.
There was a giant wooden box along with Tina on top of the cart.
Tina appeared to have passed out. The Monster Controller was dressed in a black hood and was holding her up.
“That bastard dares to touch the princess’s body!!”
Raikofu was infuriated. He wore a similar hood as the man, and pulled it over his eyes.
Raikofu was getting more and more pissed off and started yelling at the cyclops.
“Halt!!”
“Grahhh!!”
“Oh”
The Monster Controller lightly slapped the Cyclops’s back.
Raikofu approached him and the Monster Controller gave him a report.
“I brought her with me. I put her to sleep just as you asked.”
“It sure took you a lot of time. What were you doing?”
“Ah, my bad, it was a tough job.”
“Why are you hiding your face? Take off the hood!”
Raikofu felt like there was something off about the Monster Controller and so he started screaming.
The Monster Controller took off the hood without hesitation.
The face was definitely that of the Monster Controller. The Monster Controller said in a hoarse voice, “I caught a cold and so now my throat is a little sore. Is that alright?”
“You are touching my fianceĂ© with your dirty hands. Give the princess to me and get lost.”
“Give me the money first. You can call my hands dirty all you want, but you’re the one who commissioned me to kidnap her.”
“You little
 Take it!!”
Raikofu drew a small bag out of his chest and threw it at the man. The Monster Controller picked up the money and started to inspect the contents.
Raikofu smiled mischievously. He reached for his bow and arrow.
“Die!!”
Raikofu drew his bow and fired it at the man. The speed at which he shot would have been too fast to react to ordinarily.
“Ho!”
The Monster Controller ducked, avoiding the arrow.
“What in the world?!”
“Grah?”
The cyclops didn’t flinch as it drew near to Raikofu.
“Wh-, why isn’t it working?”
“He has nose plugs in so the Decay Stone isn’t going to work on him”
“What!?”
The Monster Controller shook awake Tina before opening the lid of the box on the cart.
All of a sudden, a mermaid and a woman dressed as an elf envoy appeared.
The elf girl opened her mouth.
“Ah, it is you. I figured it was Raikofu
”
“Phew, that was really cramped. Too hot
”
The Monster Controller talked to himself, “Alright Suramin, you can go now
”
“Purupuru
”
Raikofu was shocked at that sight.
The Monster Controller peeled a slime off the surface of his body.
The slime stopped using its camouflage powers. The face of the Monster Controller peeled off, revealing Reito underneath. The Slime jiggled its way onto his shoulders.
Tina was completely dumbfounded.
“The person hiding their face with the hood really was Raikofu. Why would you do something like this.”
“No, Your Highness. It’s not what it looks like!”
“What does it look like? You coward!!”
“Ahh!?”
The elf envoy ignored Raikofu’s words and punched him.
◆◆◆
Airis’s strategy was to turn Raikofu’s plan on himself. The goal was to put what he had done out in the open.
Having carried out the plan, Reito went with Tina back to her lodgings and brought an envoy who had been keeping watch while she was out.
The envoy’s name was Linda. She was in charge of caring for Tina.
She looked to be in her early 20’s but her actual age was over one-hundred. That being said, she would still be considered ‘young’ by elf standards.
Linda had been watching over Tina since she was born and Tina considered her something like a parent. Linda also loved Tina like she was her own daughter.
Given that, Linda was furious that someone would try and harm Tina.
Since she hadn’t actually seen anything for herself, she was in a state of half-belief.
~
Linda’s punch completely knocked over Raikofu.
“You idiot!!”
“Ahh?!”
“You put the princess in danger!!”
“Oof!?”
Reito, Tina, Kotomin, and Slime were taken aback watching Raikofu get beat up by Linda.
“Wow
”
“Awesome!”
“Linda, you’re really scary
”
“Purupuru
”
Linda’s occupation was fistfighter. It’s a battle specialty based on laying blows to your opponent. She continued punching Raikofu, giving him no time to respond.
The moment Linda’s punch finished, Raikofu opened his mouth.
“S-Stop! Please stop! I am Princess Tina’s fianceĂ©!”
“And? If you do this kind of thing, you can’t call yourself a fianceĂ© at all. I’m going to tell your parents about today’s incident”
“N, no. Anything but – ah!?”
Raikofu was sent flying in the air.
Even Reito looked at Raikofu with some sympathy given how badly he was getting beat up. That’s how horrible it was.
Reito was in fear as he told Tina, “Your guard is super scary.”
“She’s actually really nice, but if you get on her nerves, oh boy.”
Kotomin and Tina were hiding behind Reito. Suramin was hiding behind his shoulder.
“Suramin is shaking, I’m shaking.”
“Don’t use me as a shield!”
“Purupuru,” Linda continued beating up Raikofu.
Raikofu thought that he was going to get murdered then and there so when there was a small break in the punching, he grabbed his longsword.
“Get away from me! If you get any closer, I’m going to
”
“You really think you can hurt me with that?”
“Shut up! You don’t know my sword mastery!!”
Now that he had a sword in his hand, he was suddenly acting all cocky. Reito intervened.
“Excuse me.”
Linda was surprised at Reito cutting in out of nowhere while Raikofu just glared.
“And who are you?”
“Get back! Inferior human!”
Reito paid no mind and readied his Extermination Blade.
Raikofu laughed scornfully at the sight of Reito’s saber. The giant saber didn’t match Reito’s small frame at all.
“What are you going to do with that show-off weapon?” Raikofu taunted Reito.
The longsword in his hand was made from Mithril and steel. It was a top class product forged by an elite dwarf blacksmith. While Reito’s sword had a shine to it, there wasn’t that special aura that swords made from magical metal had. Non-magical metal was looked down upon in this world.
Raikofu grinned and went in for a slash.
“Eat this!! ‘Crescent Moon Blade’ !!”
“Oof,” A crescent shaped slash attack was released from Raikofu’s sword as he swung it upwards. Reito managed to stop the attack with his sword but his hand received quite the shock.
Raikofu opened his eyes wide.
“Wh, what is that? How did your sword not break?”
Usually, “Crescent Moon Blade” could cut through the metal.
Before Raikofu’s attack, Reito used ‘Metal Transmutation’ to change the composition of his extermination blade and increased its durability using ‘Matter Reinforcement’.
“Unfortunately for you, this is custom-made. Take this!!” Reito turned the blade over and struck Raikofu.
“Graa!!”
“Ahh!?” Raikofu shrieked as his body hit the ground.
“Surrender now little boy.”
“I, I’m gonna kill you!!”
“What’s that? You can still move? You really are tough.”
Raikofu stood up and tried to grab Reito. Linda jumped in and sent Raikofu flying.
“That’s enough!!”
“Wah!?” Raikofu dropped his blade and fell over.
Seeing that Linda was about to deal additional blows, Raikofu got down on his hands and knees, retreating a little with tears in his eyes. He picked up his bow and arrow in the process.
“Don’t move!! I’ll shoot!”
Raikofu was about to fire but Linda confidently replied, “Try me.”
“What?”
“I’m saying, go ahead and shoot.”
“I’ll really do it!”
“Go ahead, do your worse.”
Reito and Tina shouted, “wh-?” “Linda?”
When Reito moved to stop Raikofu, Linda stopped him with her hand. Raikofu pulled back the string of the bow.
“Sh, shit!!”
“Fire!!” Linda pushed further.
“Ahhhh!!” Raikofu was driven in a corner and let go of the string, firing the arrow.
But, Linda had already estimated the trajectory of the arrow and avoided it with a small movement of her head. She approached Raikofu and reached her hand out.
“Fa Jin!!”
“Ahhh.”
The moment she put her hand on his stomach, a wave of energy was released into his body. Raikofu went flying five meters into the air.
Linda put both her hands together and took a deep breath to compose herself.
◆◆◆
An hour had passed since they had seen through Raikofu’s plot.
Reito had taken Tina to her lodgings in the Adventure City Lunot. All of Tina’s guards bowed to Reito.
““We apologize to you from the bottom of our hearts!””
“I’m sorry!!”
“Oh, oh
” Reito was embarrassed by each guard followed by Tina apologizing one after the other.
“Huh. You don’t need to apologize.”
“Purupuru.”
Suramin was jiggling as usual, regardless of Kotomin’s reaction.
One guard handed Reito compensation as an apology.
“This whole affair is entirely our fault. Please accept this as a token of apology.”
“That’s too far.”
“There’s a lot of money in here,” said Kotomin.
“Pururu.”
They had received three small bags but each bag had a large sum of money in it. If you were to convert it to Japanese yen, it would amount to 10,000,000 yen. Reito was taken about by the large sum and tried to not accept it but the guards were persistent.
“Raikofu is the only son of a powerful aristocratic family in the Four Leaves Kingdom. His father is a fine fellow, but maybe because of his mother he has a tendency to look down on humans. We don’t know what to do. There’s no way we can overlook it this time around. Using Princess Tina to try and trick you. We will have him punished in the Great Atlas Forest.”
“You’re not planning to kill him, right?” Reito was worried.
“Raikofu is the only heir to the Midori House. The death penalty would be a little severe but he will probably spend ten years or so in jail. Of course, this would also mean his engagement with Princess Tina will be called off. The Midori House will be forced to take responsibility.”
“Right
 By the way, where is Raikofu right now?”
At present, he is being treated for injuries in a separate room. We are not using recovery medicine or magic to heal him though.”
Linda cracked her knuckles, “That fool should be forced to suffer. Once he’s strong enough to stand again, I’m gonna pummel him back down.”
Kotomin trembled.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Reito asked Linda about the battle tactic she used in the fight.
“Can I ask you something? When you were fighting with Raikofu, why were you able to dodge his attack?”
“That is thanks to a fighter skill known as ‘Snap Decision.’ It enables you to read your opponents moves before they happen and dodge the attack.”
Hearing that, Reito remembered when he fought the master of the Black Tiger Guild Bal and Vampire Gain. They were also able to dodge attacks, just like Linda.
He wondered if he would be able to remember that for himself and then asked another question, “at the end, you used a skill called “Fa Jin.” That’s a battle tactic, right?”
“That is a skill only fighters can use. It sends a shock to your opponent on the areas you touch.”
There was also the skill ‘Fa Jin’ in his past life.
It is a strong short-distance attack that is initiated through your back and shoulders. Linda had practiced that skill to the max.
Reito whispered, “I wonder what would happen to Suramin if we used ‘Fa Jin’ on you.”
“Purupuru.”
“I bet you’d jiggle a lot.”
“Maybe more than just jiggle, let’s find out!” Kotomin said. Reito imagined it and almost laughed.
Putting that aside, Reito still had the problem of rejecting the compensation. He couldn’t accept such a high amount.
At present, he had no need for such an amount of money. He consulted with Airis.
『Lover.』
『Don’t call me that, you’re the department head* after all! I haven’t made that joke in a while.』
『Who are you calling department head!』
『I’m just messing around. As far as the money is concerned, why not accept it and put it toward the restoration of the village.』
『Fair enough. What should we do about the cyclops though?』
『He’s not doing anyone any harm. Why not just make him your pet like Ullr? I’m sure he can help with physical labor.』
The cyclops came from a far away land. It wouldn’t be possible to send him back. It might even cause trouble if he was spotted by a human in the wilderness.
As a result, Reito ended up taking care of the cyclops.
◆◆◆
*(TL note: This is likely a reference to a common trope in Japanese drama of assistants and department heads having secret love affairs. It translates poorly into English.)