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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Hearing those guys’ rumors from Madam might’ve been a stroke of luck. At least it meant I found out they were nearby.
They definitely said people were disappearing from the surrounding villages. Were they trying to make more ghouls? Those cruel bastards.
What those guys are after is Victoria’s assassination, the White Witch’s Orb, and revenge on our group, I’m sure.
We can’t let anything go their way.
Kerry parted ways with Ellie and went to the inn where the others were staying.
“You should come home a little earlier, dear.”
“I was worried about you, husband!”
I got nagged for being late, but it was all because they were worried about me.
Anyway, it was dangerous to be out at night, so I decided to rest until morning. I thought about sharing the rumors I’d heard from Madam with the others, but nothing was definite yet, so I decided to investigate first.
‘It’s handy having good eyes.’
It wasn’t difficult at all. I just had to observe people in crowded areas like the market or the plaza.
Using the Eye of the Goddess, that is.
In the morning, I went to the plaza and checked the status screens of people one by one. It was early, but there were a lot of diligent people.
The plaza looked as peaceful as always, but…
“The inside was totally rotten.”
The investigation results were a bit shocking. About one out of ten people were afflicted with voodoo magic.
Fortunately, most of the people afflicted were in the early stages, so they were just feeling tired.
‘One in ten… If we leave it like this… does that mean at least hundreds of people are going to turn into ghouls?’
That’s just the start. The scary thing about ghouls is that they’re contagious, so it’s possible that thousands of residents here could end up as ghouls.
‘Okay, I’ve got solid proof that those guys have started their work.’
It’s very useful that they don’t know about the Eye of the Goddess. No matter what they plot, we can at least get a rough idea of their plan.
“What we need is… a huge amount of holy water.”
Thankfully, there was a temple here, with so many people around.
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After finishing his investigation, Kerry informed the others that those guys had arrived.
“Is that true?”
“Yes, Lady Lina. It’s certain. It’s similar to the early symptoms of voodoo magic we saw in the previous village.”
Lina clenched her fist. The hero of Justice would never forgive such actions.
“You’re awesome, husband! You’re going to save so many people just like you did at the last village.”
“Natasha, we still don’t know how it’s going to go.”
“Don’t worry. My husband got the information, so Lina and I will somehow figure the rest out.”
“Natasha is right. We absolutely won’t just stand by and watch this happen.”
What was a bit surprising was that the others believed me without me even showing any proof.
It seemed we were already at that kind of stage.
The old woman let out a huge yawn and got up from her seat.
“Hmm. So the villagers are afflicted with wicked sorcery… This Grand Sorceress can’t stand idly by. I’ll go check it out for a bit too.”
It was worth all the trouble to see how much weight my word carried in the party.
“Grandma, let’s go together! Husband, I’ll go with Grandma and check on people and prepare some holy water too. You need holy water to break the voodoo magic, right?”
“Natasha, if that’s the case, I’ll go with you…”
“Nope. You can’t. You have to practice your swordsmanship, husband. Lina, please take good care of him during his training.”
I wanted to go with them too. I wanted to take a break for just one day!
“Leave it to me, Natasha.”
Lina’s eyes were blazing with determination. It was seriously nerve-wracking.
I was half-dragged by Lina towards the training grounds. Even though I showed that I didn’t want to go, Lina took my arm and pulled me along.
I could feel Lina’s soft chest against my arm. That feels nice. I already decided to train, but I’ll pretend I don’t want to go until we get there.
It was after we arrived at the training grounds.
“Lina, I’ve been thinking, shouldn’t we tell Victoria about the voodoo magic?”
Lina seemed to ponder my words deeply.
“…Even if we told her, it probably wouldn’t do much good. She won’t listen to us unless we win the bet. Of course, if you want to tell her, Kerry, I won’t stop you.”
“No, If you say so, Lina, then that’s how it is.”
She’d known Victoria much longer than I had, so Lina was probably right.
“Ultimately, the fastest way to persuade her is for you to win the bet, Kerry. I’m sorry to put the burden on you…”
It seemed like that was going to happen again. For now, Natasha and the old woman were preparing the holy water, so things should be fine.
The voodoo magic was underway, but since it was in the early stages, there shouldn’t be any major problems for a while.
First, win the bet.
Then, explain the whole situation to Victoria and use the holy water. And then their plans would be over.
‘Right. Everything hinges on winning this ridiculous bet.’
“Lina, let’s start training quickly.”
“It’s good to see you showing so much motivation.”
“If we’re going to do this, we might as well win, right?”
“Yes. Also, there’s something I heard yesterday while you were out, Kerry… It seems Victoria is making this bigger than we thought.”
“?”
“You hadn’t heard? It seems they made the duel against the captain of the guard a city-wide event.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“It seems they’ve added a tournament with the townspeople participating as well. It looks like quite a crowd will gather. You need to train harder if you don’t want to be embarrassed.”
Damn it. I didn’t know anything about that. Seriously, why didn’t they even tell the main participant about the event?
Victoria didn’t seem like a bad person, but I was starting to dislike her more and more.
‘Whether she’s a former comrade or whatever, once I get my hands on her, I’ll set her straight.’
The duel was the priority for now. I thought about using magic to win the duel as a last resort, but I probably shouldn’t.
I didn’t want to show off my trump card like that in front of a large crowd.
“Let’s start training quickly!”
Kerry said while loosening his muscles. He was burning with determination. He’d win and show Victoria just what he was made of.
My training with Lina started. Lina was merciless when it came to training.
She set up precise training and rest times and carried them out strictly.
“Your sword movements are much smoother now. Your improvisation is pretty good too.”
“Well, I’ve been rolling around like this, so I guess I had to improve.”
“There are many who can’t keep up with this, even without the lack of talent.”
Lina said that was enough of the basic training and then performed the technique she showed me on the first day of training.
It was still amazing, no matter how many times I saw it.
I was facing Lina with my wooden sword, and then the next thing I knew, my wooden sword was pointing at the floor and Lina’s was at my neck.
“If we’re lucky, we might be able to win easily with this. It’s just a cheap trick, though…”
Lina downplayed it as a cheap trick, but I saw it differently.
If we were to compare it to a game, it would be like a level one job skill to a sword master, but to a beginner, it wouldn’t be. It felt like that.
“You’ll be able to learn it quickly, Kerry.”
“Yes! I’ll do my best to learn it!”
That day, I focused on learning the technique Lina taught me all day long. The sound of wooden swords didn’t stop in the training grounds.
As the early evening came, the shadows grew long.
Kerry was completely exhausted and sprawled out on the ground.
“You’ve done well, Kerry.”
“Li…na…you…huh…huh…you did well too…”
Lina didn’t look tired at all. Instead, she was looking at me and smiling proudly. What kind of person is so dedicated?
I dusted off the dirt on my body roughly and was about to go outside the training grounds when I saw Natasha and the old woman coming to meet me.
“Husband!”
“Tsk. You went all out again today, huh?”
The old woman gave me a sympathetic look. It was a bit nice, but Natasha was completely different.
Natasha was looking at me with the same proud expression as Lina. I felt like I had become some RPG character in training.
“Ooh! You smell good, husband.”
Natasha hugged me without caring about how dirty I was. The old woman watched us for a bit before saying something.
“How do you feel? A bit stronger?”
“If you can get stronger just from two weeks of training, no one would be weak.”
“That’s true, I guess.”
“Well, I can see a chance of winning. I learned a trump card.”
“That’s our son-in-law for you. So reliable.”
When I came to my senses, I was already used to being treated as a husband and son-in-law. Is this forced brainwashing? I’ll have to refuse more firmly next time.
“How’s the holy water going?”
Even now, Lina only seems to be thinking about work. It was so like Lina.
“I requested holy water from the nearby temple. At first, they told me to not say such nonsense, but Grandma proved it with magic, and their faces turned pale.”
“Good job, Natasha.”
“Hehe. Thank you, husband.”
That day, everyone had a big dinner together. The training was so intense that every meal was incredibly delicious.
Time passed. And the day of the duel against the captain of the guard was approaching.
“Today is the day, right?”
“The day the captain of the guard fights the foreigner.”
“I heard the foreigner is quite big too. I hope the foreigner wins, hahaha.”
“Same here. Those guards don’t know when to stop lining their own pockets.”
The townspeople, who only knew that the captain of the guard was fighting a foreigner, chatted away happily as Kerry passed by.
Kerry sighed as he headed toward the training grounds with his companions.
“There are so many people.”
Don’t they have anything better to do?
Well, I guess in this medieval world without entertainment, a fight is going to feel as exciting as the Olympics.
“Everyone is obsessed with this kind of thing. There are quite a few stalls as well.”
“I heard some people camped out since dawn to get the good seats, my husband.”
It was infuriating. Even if there’s nothing to do in this world, still.
“It’s partly because they’re bored, but most people are trying to make a killing this time around. It’s hush-hush, but everyone’s placing bets on this duel.”
“Then I’ll bet all my money on you, honey!”
‘You don’t have any money. You always use money from Lina…’
They were even betting on the match between the captain of the guard and me. Like noble like townsfolk.
Then, Lina went somewhere. She grabbed a kid, asked them something, and handed them money.
“Wait… did Lina place a bet too?”
“Yes. I lightly placed 50 silver for Natasha’s allowance.”
“Wow! Lina is so cool!”
“The payout is 3 to 1. I guess more people think Kerry is going to lose by a huge margin.”
“That makes me a little angry.”
I was the one who endured Lina’s hellish training. I wasn’t the same as before. I took out the emergency fund I’d been saving from my pocket. It was just a small part of the money I’d secretly squirreled away.
“I’ll bet 50 silver on my victory as well.”
“You seem confident. That’s the spirit.”
If I won, I’d make a free 1 gold and 50 silver. I thought about betting all the money I had, but the prize pool was so small that the profit would be lower.
I was looking at the training grounds, which had turned into a marketplace, when I saw the captain of the guard’s in the distance.
The captain of the guard was in the center of the group.
That guy’s expression was nasty.
Judging from the scar on his face, he seemed to have plenty of practical experience.
He was openly laughing as if he had it in the bag. Then, he suddenly looked surprised, stood up straight, and saluted.
It was Victoria’s arrival.
Victoria was entering the training grounds, escorted by her knights. All the residents greeted Victoria with respect.
Wow. What a scene. Indeed, in this world, nobles are the best.
Victoria gave a small hand wave to the captain of the guard, and then immediately came to our group. He must be so jealous. Those guards.
“You’ve prepared well enough, haven’t you?”
Lina spoke on behalf of the group.
“Thanks to your consideration, Victoria, I’ve prepared enough. Thank you.”
Consideration my foot. Just listen when I tell you to help, jeez. I was feeling annoyed, so I made a face, but for some reason, Victoria just laughed as if she found it amusing.
“Then, it’s a bit early, but I’ll start the duel event. Let the announcer begin.”
Although I hadn’t heard it directly from Victoria, I’d already heard about it. I guess they needed a bigger cause than just a duel between me and the captain of the guard to have a large event.
An announcer came out instead of Victoria and started the event.
“The duel event will begin with a tournament of the commoners. The main event will be the duel between the captain of the guard and the foreigner, Kerry! They will conclude the event. Please enjoy the event!”
People cheered, and a festive atmosphere ensued. Of course, the captain of the guard and I were in no mood for that.
A commoner’s duel tournament? Who cares. It wasn’t going to affect us.
The commoners were dueling with wooden swords in the distance, but I didn’t even look their way once.
It was the same for the captain of the guard. The captain of the guard and Kerry kept glaring at each other. The fight had already begun.
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