Chapter 20 – Revenge
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Overpowering my OP Wife in Bed, the series covering the remaining five days of the week on Patreon, will be released every Thursday and Saturday. Depending on popularity and support, this distribution can be flipped, though. So if you like this series and wish to see it translated (still a few volumes left to TL to catch up with the raws), support it.
Franceska Stringer ― noble daughter of a ducal family and niece of the present king. She has been entrusted with commanding an army unit at the tender age of sixteen. Moreover, she’s also popular, which makes sense, seeing how she’s quite the looker.
Whenever she relaxes in thin clothes after taking a bath, her curves pack enough of a punch to make even me feel horny. I wonder how a young, sensitive guy like Will is dealing with this?
It’s said she’s spent all her time training the sword ever since she was a small kid, but she properly learned magic too. When she got the better of me during last year’s tournament, she was still fifteen years old. I’d say that’s the average age of a junior high school student.
Her physique is normal, or you could even call it rather small when she’s standing among adventurers. Yet, she took overall victory in an adult, mortal gladiator tournament, said to occasionally produce casualties amongst its participants, not to mention injured. She’s the very definition of a prodigy.
But, just because she’s talented doesn’t mean that she failed to put effort into it. Riches, power, fame, ability, and beauty; she possesses everything others would envy her for. She also managed to finally pull even with Sati who’s strengthened by the Blessing. Many voices describe her as the sword master of the next era.
Franceska called our growth abnormal, but from my point of view, Franceska is the weird one here.
I created a fighting stage for the duel at the river beach. It wouldn’t be funny if the match were to be decided by me slipping again, and it will also serve as a nice training ground for the beastkin henceforth.
For Franceska this is going to be a chance to get her revenge for having been thoroughly trashed during our journey, but for me it counts as revenge for the tournament. As I was beaten black and blue when I lost my footing due to my physical condition being bad, it’s a battle that left me with lots of regrets, although I got Sati to avenge me afterwards.
Sati says that I can win if I get serious, and I also have a winning strategy. I have something that Franceska doesn’t have ― power. I will overcome her resistance with strength. I went into the battle while planning all that, but――
“W-Wait.”
After exchanging several sword blows, I took a hit from Franceska and went down on one knee. This pain means my bone has cracked, doesn’t it? Since it’s my right shoulder, I won’t be able to wield my sword if I don’t heal it.
Fuck, it hurts so much…
This is why I hate serious matches. As I thought, I shouldn’t have gone along with this.
The crowd of beastkin, who had come to watch, had also fallen silent. They probably didn’t expect that I’d lose so easily. Trying to win with strength, I strained myself too much, trying to get serious while not achieving any of that, and thus allowed for an easy gap in my defenses to occur.
“You’re not going to tell me that’s all you have, are you?”
Since the pain faded after I cast a heal on myself, I slowly stood up.
“Of course not.”
“That’s one favor down.”
Losing one of the two favors she owes me over this doesn’t matter at all. Losing in such a pathetic way would disappoint Sati. I feel like you can already count this as a loss, but this was just me being a bit playful. Yep, let’s not count this one. Although I did it seriously, it was just training. Not the real match yet. At times, such things happen as well. Then you just got to redo things.
I checked my shoulder by lightly swinging my sword. No problem on this end.
I don’t want to go through any painful experiences, so I thought I’d decide this in one breath, but that was too naive. I’ve got no choice but somehow get this done the normal way.
Of course, I have another winning strategy in petto. It’s my newly invited micro-heal. Even small heals with short chants can’t be applied readily as an opponent will hinder you from casting them, but in such a case, you just need to shorten the chant even further. I tested it against Sati, but this match will serve as a live-combat test since I’m going to get injured. I have no option but to endure a certain level of pain.
“Alright, I’m ready to go. Guess it’s time for the real match now.”
I made up my resolve.
Our second bout started slowly. Franceska also avoided stepping in too far as she seemed to be wary, apparently sensing my resolve. We exchanged sword blows as if carefully searching for openings.
As long as I can deal with her calmly, Franceska is close to equal in ability to Sati. At least she’s no unbeatable opponent. Rather, the speed of her sword work falls behind Sati’s and her slashes lack power. Her being a formidable opponent despite that stems from her exceeding us in technique and experience. As soon as she saw me make a bigger swing earlier, she immediately stepped in and capitalized on this by delivering a lethal blow.
However, this way of fighting must be boring to watch for the crowd of spectators. If it turns into a drawn-out battle, I should have the advantage in stamina, but I’ll go on the offensive here.
Because this isn’t a tournament match or anything like that, winning or losing doesn’t matter so much. If I consider our sword skills, the probability of me losing is quite high. What’s important here is how I fight. Will I be able to fight bravely? At the very least, a pathetic loss is unforgivable at this point.
But, Franceska was tougher than I had expected. Once she shifted to defense, my attacks didn’t connect. Or rather, I felt like they wouldn’t work at all. On top of that, she’d immediately counterattack whenever she spotted the slightest opening.
I should have become stronger as well, but Franceska has been practicing more than me over the last week. However, what was even worse was me having my movements and habits read by her. It looks like she has closely studied my movements during the last week.
At present, her attacks only graze me, but it’s almost like her finals with Sati during the tournament. If I don’t take measures against this, things will end after she’s gradually chipped away at my strength.
I thought I might be able to somehow muddle through by doing it the normal way, but I guess that was unreasonable to assume…
This combat distance is advantageous for Franceska. That’s why I took a step forward. I deliberately showed an opening by stepping in. If possible, I don’t want to do this, but I’ll let her cut my flesh and bones while aiming for a simultaneous counter.
Franceska didn’t fall for this obvious trap, but then I had to simply increase my offensive actions. I’ll take a certain amount of hits, but I won’t mind as long as the injuries remain small. Realizing that I was going for a counterattack, Franceska stopped to come at me too aggressively.
But, I guess I was a bit too blatant with my aiming for a counter. I suffered quite a bit of pain while my attacks kept not connecting. It was getting slightly dangerous.
Noticing that she was damaging me, Franceska increased the pressure. My 【Heal (Tiny)】 chant──was interrupted. And once I became unable to heal, my chances for victory disappeared. If I push the offense even further despite that…ah, shit. I ate another blow.
As foreseeable, if I don’t heal myself soon, things will get really bad. Even when using my new heal, I need a certain distance to make it succeed reliably.
I tried to somehow open up a distance, but Franceska didn’t allow that. She seemed to be intent on taking me down here in one go.
But, that’s also what I want. If I push myself a bit, my body can still move sufficiently. It’s okay to postpone the healing.
Franceska made a feint, but that didn’t hold much meaning with me who was aiming for a counterattack, and the attack targeting my defenseless head was one beat slower thanks to the feint.
I stepped forward without avoiding her attack, and drove my counter in with all my force. My head was protected by an iron helmet, so I could lower the force behind her blow by shifting the angle somewhat.
What I implemented on the spot was the technique of Sergeant──a motion my body had mastered after I trained it over and over again. And thus it came down to a gamble whether I could stay conscious throughout Franceska’s attack and whether I could defeat her with my counterattack.
A shock ran through my head. My counter──was no good. I got some feedback, but it only hit her buckler. Franceska has watched me practicing this technique too, so I suppose it was a bit unreasonable to expect that I’d be able to take her down with an imperfect technique.
However, I somehow managed to remain conscious and Franceska was staggering.
In the meantime I’ll heal myself. No, I’m going to take a posture in preparation for a follow-up attack…
But, without pursuing any further, Franceska stepped back and lowered her sword. Her left arm, which had the buckler affixed to it, hung down powerlessly.
Did it work despite me hitting the buckler?
“Are you done?”
She doesn’t seem to have any fighting spirit left, but she hasn’t gone down and as she hasn’t released her combat stance, I’m making sure just in case.
I think Franceska is overestimating my sturdiness. My body is covered by wounds all over and the blow to my head definitely worked, so if she were to continue her attack, I’d be in danger.
“I’m not you! I can’t go on with my left arm like this,” Franceska spat out while twisting her face in agony.
Even if she holds the buckler on the left, she probably judged that she’d have no chance of winning with one arm completely incapacitated. I won’t call it spineless as it’s probably weird to do crazy things like me during a simple training match.
I healed my wounds and then took care of Franceska’s wounds, too.
Somehow I was able to secure the victory. It was an unrefined battle that seemed like a constant treading on thin ice, but a win is a win. Still, I really have to do something about me ending up in such a state when I fight someone superior to me…
“With this, it’s one loss and one victory each. Are we going to have another round?”
If Franceska wishes, I won’t mind continuing. I didn’t use the mini heal I came up with for my battle against Franceska, so it should be possible to go for consecutive victories, if I use it skilfully.
“…Let’s stop at this point for today.”
It was a fairly severe bout, so I guess having another one right away is asking too much.
“Next time I won’t lose.”
Naturally, Franceska doesn’t plan to quit while I’m ahead. I think our next match might take place in the Village of Swords.
Even so, in the end I really don’t feel like fighting this girl. Her face clearly tells me that she’s thinking something like “I should have killed him during his first down,” or “Next time I won’t show any mercy.”
“Masaru-sama!”
Hearing that the match was over, Sati was the first to arrive. She seemed very happy and excited. A reversal from a critical situation must have been quite a sight to behold.
Just as Sati said, I was able to win after all. Does that mean this was my serious mode? A strategy based on a mutual hit using my sturdiness and healing magic, instead of some hidden potential?
“As I thought, you’re strong, Masaru-sama!”
“I see. Did I show my serious side just now?”
“Yes. It looked really cool!”
“Your movement was as good as during the tournament, Your Lordship.”
Okay, so this is me being serious, huh…? No wait, it’s not like it’s necessary for me to get injured or anything like that, right?
In short it’s the sensation of preparing myself mentally and stepping forward. I just need to train so that I can defend myself properly even in that state.
Sergeant previously mentioned that it’s one of my bad habits to rely on my armor for defense. I probably ended up depending on my sturdiness and healing magic without really noticing it. I suppose I’ll have to steadily practice…to raise my defense and evasion abilities.
Once I checked, I saw that Franceska was apparently going to take Will with her to practice right away.
“Will, want me to give you the new armor?”
“No, it’s okay. We’ll give his armor a final farewell. To the fullest, that is.”
Franceska said something frightening she had decided on her own accord, but Will readily followed her. He’s been completely domesticated by her, hasn’t he? Well, far from his loyalty dropping, it seems like it’s rising again, so I think that’s fine.
■ ■ ■
Will, Franceska, and Lillia decided to stay back with the beastkin while we headed to the fortress. Lillia explained that she’d ask the beastkin as much as possible about the elves.
With the report to the guild completely finished, it was only Sati, Syrah-chan and me left. After various complications, we finally reached the fortress.
Usually things should have been over with us delivering the goods to the guild, but we had to face unexpected delays.
First I took out the goods I had transported in the vault Ellie built for me. After cataloging those, we left the job of cross-checking the items to Ellie and reported to the guild about the hunts on the journey. I didn’t hunt at all and Sati held back quite a bit too, but checking all of Syrah-chan’s spoils required some time.
It also became necessary to raise Syrah-chan’s rank as it was still set at the lowest rank. If we went by sequence, E would have been the next higher rank, but her achievements went way beyond that you’d expect of an E-Rank, so it quickly turned into a discussion about raising her rank to D, but Will had raised her rank from E to C during this journey. As far as Syrah-chan herself was concerned, she probably didn’t want to be seen as inferior to Will. She had more ability than him and her accomplishments during the journey surpassed Will’s as well, so she wished for her rank to rise to C.
The guild always needs capable adventurers anyway, so it’d be beneficial for them to grant her a rank befitting her abilities and give her work appropriate for that rank.
But, no matter what you say, Syrah-chan has only been registered with the guild for a week. Because of that, her actual track record as adventurer is quite lacking, so the guild decided to test her abilities on the training ground.
“Mr. Priest! What about yesterday’s babe and the guy in the tattered armor?”
Once we went to the training ground, one of the adventurers, which Ann had gathered, called out to me.
“Ah, those two are in the foreign settlement right now.”
“So they’re not going to come here today? We wanted to ask for another match…”
Apparently those guys belonged to the group that had been beaten black and blue by Will and Franceska.
“In that case, I will take you on as their party member. I’m stronger than the guy in the tattered armor, you know?” Syrah-chan said.
Even if she says she’s stronger, it’s just a tiny bit. But I suppose Syrah-chan wants to also give it a try after hearing that Will had wiped the floor with them.
Well, it looks like it doesn’t matter who becomes her opponent as long as the examiner can take a look at her skills. And if they’re requesting matches from their side, it’s all she could ask for.
“Stronger than that tattered armor dude? For real…?”
“Look at her armor. It looks damn strong!”
“Boss, Boss! We’re counting on you!”
It seems like they called in a helper. The guy called Boss was a human with a good body build and equipment of good quality.
“I’m Yegor Balenine, a B-Rank. It sounds like you people took good care of our young lads yesterday.” He stepped in front of us and introduced himself.
B requires the successful subjugation of large targets, so he should be quite powerful. Then again, the ones who took care of your young lads were Franceska and Will, but I guess we got some responsibility in this as their party members.
“F-Rank, Syrah.”
Syrah-chan introduced herself as well. Then again, Syrah-chan could finally give it a rest and use my surname.
“F, you say?”
“She has registered just recently and came here to take a test to show us her ability. If her opponent is a powerful adventurer like you, Yegor-san, there won’t be any problems. Could I ask you to handle this?” The guild employee explained to Boss Yegor.
“I see. Okay, why not.”
“Are you going to make me a C-Rank if I win against this guy?”
“Well, if you win, we will definitely do so, but…,” answered the guild employee to Syrah-chan’s question.
Although we’re biased as her friends, us A-Ranks vouching for her also plays a role. Her accomplishments are more than enough for C-Rank even if she’s been an adventurer for a short period of time. If she can win against a B-Rank on top of that, promoting her to C-Rank won’t be a problem.
“You’ve got really bad luck that I’ve become your opponent for the ranking exam, missy. You should obediently give up on C-Rank this time.”
Yegor was full of motivation although this was slated to be an exam. Just when I wondered what Will had done to them yesterday, I heard that he had defeated all the adventurers who had gone along with Franceska’s suggestive provocation of 「If you manage to win against this guy, I’ll play with you」.
Well, normally you’d think that she was talking about fighting them with swords, but those guys probably got their hopes up for more, I suppose.
“Boss Yegor is the strongest of the adventurers in this fortress. You won’t find people able to win against him so easily!”
“Right, right!” Other adventurers chimed in.
“Not going to find such people easily doesn’t mean that they don’t exist, right?” I asked the guild employee next to me.
“He’s the strongest adventurer in this fortress, but we’re out in the countryside, so well…”
At the present, the fortress is a den of activity that’s overflowing with people, but back when Hilagis was still standing strong, it was a plain border fortress that didn’t have much contact with monster areas. Because of the friendly relationship with Hilagis, this place was no more than a waypoint for travelers and as such it didn’t offer an environment which would attract outstanding adventurers or fighters.
After the preparations were finished, the mock battle began.
As might be expected of a B-Rank, Yegor was reasonably strong. When it comes to veterans, they have a solid guard. However, although he endured Syrah-chan’s considerably tenacious attacks, he was constantly on the defensive. Logically, he went down after he ran out of steam and finally took a hit.
Although you could call him strong, he was still at the level of an ordinary person. In this regard, Franceska is the odd one out as she was capable of killing me without even having a Blessing.
“B-Boss lost!?”
“Ugh, for her to have been this strong…no choice, the seat of number one in this fortress now belongs to you.”
“Boss!?”
“It’s okay, guys. The time to pass the baton to the next generation has come. That’s all there is to it.”
“Boooss…”
For some reason, this had turned into that sort of battle.
“The stron…”
This time I succeeded in timely blocking Sati’s mouth. I’m tired, so that sort of stuff can wait for another day. We still got plenty of other tasks to take care of, too. After getting them to rank up Syrah-chan’s adventurer rank, we need to go to the merchant guild and the temple. Once that’s done, there’s also the beastkin children. We won’t find any time to rest while the sun is still up.
“Let’s go, Syrah.”
“Hey, wait a sec! Are you running away!?”
“We’re going to leave this place tomorrow, so we don’t have any spare time to play with you people,” Syrah-chan stopped and answered the local adventurer.
“You’re going to Hilagis, aren’t you?”
The only ones coming to the fortress around this time of the year are people with business in Hilagis.
“There’s still time, right? I’m going to come back here after training and becoming stronger.
“Training…oh, I see, are you possibly heading to the place of the master swordsman…?
“If possible.”
Sati, Franceska, and I are already set on this, but Syrah-chan is undecided as of yet.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to meet the master swordsman with your level of ability. Do your best with the training!”
Syrah-chan waved at the adventurers and caught up to us, who had gone ahead, with a jog.
“Your Lordship, that just now, umm…”
She seemed to feel slightly awkward about having gone along with the mood, behaving and talking like some protagonist while disregarding us. The ones going to the swordmaster’s place are us. Syrah-chan is just an extra. At least that’s what she probably thinks.
However, Syrah-chan has the power that would allow her to fill the role of a protagonist no matter where she goes. She also has more than enough qualifications to receive the master swordsman’s training.
“Did you have fun?”
“Very much,” Syrah-chan affirmed.
I see. I suppose Syrah-chan does like those sorts of events.
“Then all is fine. Syrah, you also acquired a seizable level of strength. It’d be okay for you to focus more on what you want to do yourself without holding back on our account.”
“I understand…thanks, Your Lordship.”
“It’s nothing you’d need to thank me for.”
“But,” Syrah-chan continued in a quiet voice so that only I could hear her, “I was told that I’m the strongest in the fortress as someone who was dropped into slavery, and they didn’t laugh at me when I said I would go to the master swordsman’s place. All of this is thanks to you, Your Lordship.”
But, that’s exactly what I meant with it being nothing to thank me for, I thought.
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