第６７６堀：子供は素直に大人は狡く (Part1)
Chapter 676: Children are Honest, Adults are Cunning
Side: Yuki
My heart is light right now.
The reason is simple: I punched a pervert, and it felt great.
It’s not often you get to punch someone without a shred of hesitation, is it?
While I was basking in that refreshing feeling...
"Y-You!! Do you have any idea what you've done!? This person is..."
The second pervert, who had been standing next to the first, screamed.
"I don't know. I have no interest in your names. Anyone who tries to lay a hand on someone else's wife is just a 'pervert' to me."
I can accept a wife-fetishist as a matter of personal taste, but actually making demands is a no-go. Keep it in your delusions. That’s why you’re called a pervert—because you can't.
Honestly, I didn't even need to provoke them; they were such straightforward targets that I was actually surprised.
These guys really thought we were just a mercenary group that was all talk.
They think they’ve been deceived by the King of August and the Princess, and even by the fact that Cleena, the daughter of the Princess's advisor Feigel, was adopted into the royal family. But really, if you don't push through with that kind of momentum, is it even possible to seize actual power in August?
"Damn it!! Seize this idiot..."
The second pervert finally seemed to notice the situation around him.
He realized that there was no one left to obey his orders.
"W-What is..."
The second pervert looked around, speechless.
All the soldiers were collapsed on the floor, and the only ones standing were my wives and the rest of our entourage.
"What is it, you ask? Can't you see the situation? You tried to suppress dignitaries from another country by force, so you were countered and lost. That’s all there is to it."
That came from Popuri, the oldest "loli-baba" among our visiting party.
"Y-You guys, like..."
"You think children can't do this? Too bad. There isn't a single general or mage among us who becomes useless just because they don't have their magic swords or staves."
The next to speak was the magic sword user, Agil.
And following that...
"To think you could do anything to us with this level of effort—it’s laughable."
"Yeah. This is easy, super easy."
"Easy."
As Vilier and the others said this, they tossed the soldiers toward the second pervert. Panicked, the second pervert abandoned his comrade and bolted out of the room...
"Eek!? Someone!! Help!! Thieves, thieves have broken in!!"
He left, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"W-What do we do!? Aren't we wanted criminals now!?"
"Y-Yuki-sensei!? What should we do!?"
"A-Are we going to be arrested and executed!?"
Hearing that, Kagura and the others suddenly started to panic, but Enora remained calm...
"Calm down, Kagura and the others. This was the plan from the start, wasn't it? Well, thanks to the opponents being idiots from the beginning, we didn't even need to provoke them. Now, we just need to knock everyone down with these gauntlets!! Right, Yuki-sama?"
"..."
Crap. Enemies aside, Enora is getting swallowed up by the weapon made by Narjia-san.
Thanks to that, the panic among Kagura and the others subsided, but they seemed to sense that Enora was becoming dangerous, just as I did, and started to distance themselves from her.
Was there a "spirit elevation" enchantment on those things?
"Ufufufu... I should just sink all the enemies with clean left-right one-twos. Before I forget the sensation from earlier, I should try it again on the sleeping sandbags..."
"Wait, wait!! Hey, Kagura!! Your best friend is about to cross the line into using humans as sandbags, stop her!!"
The soldiers were just following orders, and I’m not low enough to strike the fallen; if I did that, the royal family would be wary of us too.
I had the first pervert rolled up in a mat, so I wasn't exactly free to move, but someone needed to stop her.
"H-Hey!! Enora, that’s going too far!!"
"Enora, calm down!!"
"Y-Yes, Enora-san!?"
"It's impossible!? The gauntlets are boosting her power too much!?"
Kagura, Mikos, Solo, and the dragon knight Amanda tried to hold her back, but Enora dragged all four of them forward toward the "sandbags."
"Everyone, move!! Let go!! I can't punch him if you're in the way!!"
"You'll kill him!! He'll die!!"
As Enora spouted lines I felt like I’d heard somewhere before, the sound of many footsteps echoed from the back of the hallway...
"You couldn't even capture the fools from a small country like Weed!! Find them and bind them at once!! If they escape, August will be isolated!! If that happens, there's no point in taking over August!! Honestly, was it a mistake to leave this to you all!? Prepare for punishment!!"
"Duke Fool, s-such a thing!? T-They are abnormally strong!! W-Was what His Majesty said true after all..."
"Don't say such stupid things. How could they lose to a group of young men, students, and children who aren't even magic sword users!! Honestly, first we'll retrieve the idiots lying in the room and destroy the evidence. We'll say they escaped. If this gets back to the royal faction..."
The perverts returned, talking about their transparent plans.
That’s when I found a simple solution.
"You're free to go. Plenty of sandbags just arrived."
"Hah!! You haven't escaped y—mya...!?"
*Mya?* What was he trying to say?
No, more importantly, Duke Fool wasn't allowed to finish his sentence. A clean right hook from Enora caught him in the jaw, and just as he was about to collapse...
"Hmph!! Hah!!"
A left jab followed by a right straight—a perfect one-two—sunk into his face, and like the first pervert, he was blown into the wall to become an ornament.
"Eek!?"
"Nooo!!"
"Abyu!?"
*Crunch!?*
The second pervert who was with him screamed at the sudden tragedy, which only served to draw Enora’s attention. A magnificent high kick—or rather, a strike to the medulla oblongata—exploded, and he went down.
Actually, that sounded pretty bad, so I’d better heal him.
The back of his head is caved in; that’s a skull fracture. He should be dead.
*Healing magic is convenient,* I thought again.
While I was thinking that, the soldiers who saw Enora’s rampage—or rather, her skill—had already disarmed and raised their hands.
Good. Princess Inis should be arriving soon, so we can finish the talks then. But it seemed there were still stragglers...
"You lot!! What are you doing!! Thieves have come, haven't they!! Hurry up and capture them!! I'll tell my father about this!!"
Pushing past the disarmed soldiers, a stupid-looking noble appeared, whose only talent seemed to be throwing his weight around.
"Hah. What are you afraid of from a scrawny man who doesn't even look like he can touch a sword?"
Ah, well, I agree with his assessment of my appearance, but I was about to tell him that he was the same, when for some reason, Aslin and the others stepped forward.
"Hey. Is the stupid pervert making fun of Big Brother?"
"Or did you come to steal Firia and the others' snacks again?"
"Did you come to grope our chests like you did that time?"
"...You're prepared for what comes next, right?"