Absolutely Do Not Touch Eldmia Egga – Chapter 94

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Was it what they called them falling leaves in autumn wind?

Personally, I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were more like insects swatted by a fly swatter, but that felt too harsh of an assessment, so perhaps falling leaves in autumn wind was more fitting.

The sight of them being struck by that massive iron club, sent flying, and rolling across the floor was truly pitiful.

They gritted their teeth, desperately trying to get back up, but before they could even stand properly, just as they were struggling to move, Sieg swung his sword once more, sending them rolling in the opposite direction.

Of course, their misery was my entertainment.

It was amusing.

Still, just in case, I decided to offer Sieg a word of advice.

“Hero, you haven’t forgotten that the audience is watching through the crystal ball, have you?”

“As if I care!”

Well, whether he accepted it or not was up to him.

Since our conversation wasn’t being broadcasted anyway, it didn’t really matter.

Just as I was starting to miss having popcorn, a low groan came from the side.

“Ugh… wh-why is this happening…?”

It was the woman who had abruptly started singing before thrusting her spear, only to be flung back.

Of course, I now knew that it had been a buff spell, but at first, I truly wondered if she had lost her mind.

“To anyone watching, it would seem like you’ve been met with an incredibly unfair and unjust outcome.”

The woman with the fierce impression, who had at least been spared from continuous suffering like the others by being flung away initially, was shedding tears and pounding the ground as if she was indignant.

It was absurd, to say the least.

“That…that was dark magic… It’s unheard of…”

“In this world? Even a Silver-ranked adventurer could fly several times farther than that, let alone the Hero who is yet to reach his full potential. What kind of life have you lived?”

Anyone would think she was the reincarnated one.

Sure, Sieg’s base stats were amazing, but there were knights even within the House of Ogatorf who were stronger than him, let alone high-ranking adventurers.

But absurdly, the woman’s reaction was indignant.

“You… you think it makes sense for someone his age to be capable of that?!”

“No, are you seriously throwing a tantrum because a kid is stronger than you?”

Her thoughts were surprisingly old-fashioned, considering her appearance.

I had asked out of genuine curiosity, but she took it as an insult and gnashed her teeth.

“I…! I am Sevela, the Siren of Voltabei! The very Knight Commander of the Sea Dragon Knights! And you dare say I am upset over such a trivial matter?!”

Ah, so you possess such a name and title.

I had absolutely no idea, since you neglected to introduce yourself.

And here I thought she might have shown some respect upon our first encounter.

Now she’s dropped all formalities and is speaking informally.

Perhaps in her imagination, she planned to act like that after defeating Sieg and me.

Then again, for someone who wouldn’t even treat the Hero properly, respecting someone from another country… well…

Huh?

Now that I thought about it, I started getting angry.

“Yeah, I don’t appreciate that tone. A certain dog from Rudra acted the same way just recently, and he ended up dead.”

“…What?”

“A dog from Rudra. Gerulf, was it? I’m just giving you a heads up since your reaction reminds me of him. Just stay down. Or, you know, take out your return scroll and then come at me.”

My instincts were tingling.

This woman, Sevela, wasn’t particularly weak.

I’d hesitate to call her strong, but it was undeniable that she had been incredibly careless.

She had assumed her opponent was significantly weaker and made a move without thinking, aiming for his thigh or something.

Naturally, she was caught off guard by Sieg, who was much stronger than she had anticipated.

However, her misfortune was that the move she got caught in happened to be from that iron club, which amplified the impact.

Even the knights rolling around over there were hit hard because they had no idea how to counter such a weapon.

The two Sieg missed while swinging the club wildly were getting back up and assessing the situation, even after being hit like that.

I, too, was refraining from attacking a downed opponent because I had to maintain the image of a hero from a fairytale for now.

But in a real battle, I would have already dashed towards Sevela, landed a swift kick to knock her unconscious, and then assessed the situation.

“Judging by your arrogance and skills, you must have believed that our only option to defeat you was to forcefully tear the scrolls and send you back. Which is why you hid your scrolls, contrary to the professor’s instructions. If you’re going to attack, take it out first. Unlike the Hero, I won’t hesitate to strike someone who’s down.”

“You think… you could possibly defeat me…?”

“I already defeated the Hero. Do you think you’re any different?”

She may have found it unexpected and unorthodox, but in the end, she failed to react and got hit, didn’t she?

“Do you think I, Sevela, would back down from such… preposterous claims?!”

“Did you perhaps hit your head and lose your memory? You just charged in, thinking the Hero’s abilities were just rumors, and look what happened.”

She could initiate a forced return simply by tearing the scroll she had left in her possession.

That would have been a convenient way to end things peacefully.

But why should I do that?

Aside from my eagerness for battle, I believed that the more combat experience I gained, the better.

It wasn’t that I was actively seeking out fights, but I saw no reason to avoid a fight that came my way.

The matter of killing or letting live was a separate issue.

There was no reason to be considerate of those who, from the outset, underestimated their opponents and walked into this with such naivety, failing to grasp the gravity of the war with the demonkind.

“———!”

With a burst of song, Sevela, who was trembling just moments ago, sprung up as if fully recovered and swung her spear at me.

The more I watched, the more fascinating it became.

Was she like a bard?

I wondered if the principle was different from magic.

Instead of drawing in the surrounding mana, it seemed like the mana around her mouth was directly broken down and converted into a form that enhanced her abilities.

If there were demons who could use similar magic, it would be quite troublesome.

I had no way of blocking that with my abilities.

Of course, that was assuming a demon with exceptionally high base stats.

It wouldn’t be fast enough to reach me when I was already on high alert.

I had no trouble tracking the spearhead with my eyes.

Simply deflecting it sideways at the right moment was enough to neutralize it completely.

“What?!”

It was understandable that she would be suspicious, but without any basis for it, it was just foolish.

Still, this was an official setting.

It was obvious that beheading her here would only lead to further complications.

So, I lowered my sword, and as Sevela lost her balance, I drove my fist and elbow into her face.

-Crack!

With the newfound realization that hitting someone was more mentally taxing than being hit, and the feeling of her nose breaking from my elbow strike, I grabbed her neck and drove my knee into her solar plexus, then threw her back.

The sight of her collapsing to the ground, tears and blood spraying from her nose, wasn’t pleasant in the slightest, but what choice did I have?

The moment a weapon was drawn, gender ceased to exist.

“Gah…!”

Unable to react to the sudden impact, Sevela collapsed on the ground.

I tossed the return scroll I had picked up earlier onto her, but she didn’t move.

The blow to her solar plexus would keep her down for a while.

Still, I had witnessed her song-based buff firsthand, so it wasn’t a complete waste.

“Stop living in a fantasy world and face reality. How long do you think Itisiel can keep protecting you from the demons? With your skills, you’ll simply die.”

To be fair, she wouldn’t die just yet, but I needed to give her a reality check so she would come to her senses.

I grew tired of watching.

I retrieved my discarded sword and sliced through the scroll on top of Sevela, sending her back.

“She held onto her weapon until the very end, like a true knight.”

Sieg, who had just knocked out two of them and was facing off against the remaining two, picked up Sevela’s original scroll and looked back at me.

Oh? It seems four of them together could hold out to this extent.

Of course, it helped that Sieg was only using his sword…

“Take out your scrolls, you bastards. Unless you want another beating.”

Surprisingly, or perhaps out of pride, the two charged at Sieg instead of taking out their scrolls.

The sight of them clinging onto their pride with such resolute expressions after being beaten so badly was laughable.

As they focused on Sieg and charged, I slipped in from the side and joined the fray.

Their expressions morphed into despair.

And that was the end of the fight.

Although it meant Sieg and I each had to grab one of them and beat them unconscious until they finally surrendered their scrolls, it was unavoidable.

“Stubborn bastards. Refusing to reveal where they hid them until the very end. It’s not like we could strip them naked.”

We couldn’t cause a broadcasting incident on live television.

We told them to take out the scrolls if they didn’t want to get beaten further, but they stubbornly refused.

What could we do?

After the situation was resolved, Sieg was still grumbling in frustration, while I decided to end things by using the remaining scrolls to send the envoys back.

Since we now knew that there would always be scrolls left behind, there was no point in wasting energy fighting unnecessarily.

If they refused to accept defeat willingly, we would simply enforce it.

We sent back the four of them one by one, using my spare scrolls.

With that, we were left strolling through the dungeon, which now held no threat other than monsters.

“Honestly, when Baldy mentioned suspicious movements, I was looking forward to seeing what kind of guys they would send. But to think they were at this level… what a letdown.”

“Realistically, wouldn’t it have been a truly ‘suspicious movement’ if it weren’t for me? You wouldn’t have taken them too lightly if that were the case.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

If Sieg hadn’t been blinded by rage, he would have mistakenly thought it was an opportunity to show off his skills and held back.

He might have even gotten hurt by those guys who were desperately fighting for their lives.

We wouldn’t be able to escape criticism for beating up the kingdom’s envoys after clearing the dungeon since our conversation wasn’t broadcasted.

But at least we successfully displayed the Hero’s might.

We decided to focus on the positive.

It didn’t take long to find the emblem marked with the academy’s insignia.

As soon as we obtained it, a gate, serving as an exit, was generated, and our dungeon exploration came to an end.

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[Damn Eldmia was really giving Sevela the Bane treatment]