RATH 26

TL: Eevee

3. And so the story begins. (10)

#8 Their story: The future legendary hosts story.

Tha that was uncalled for

My entire bodys screaming. Ahh. This feeling. Its been a while. I didnt want to feel it but it was already too late.

I apologise.

In this case is it the instructors fault for always insisting on the alpha strike, or is it Sias fault who created this situation where he had no choice but to do it? Or, is it my fault for getting hit? Well, the last option definitely isnt it.

We survived somehow.

You really somehow managed to get away.

Sia didnt bother taking us as hostages.

The instructor nodded sagely to me who was currently sprawled out against the ground.

I dont know what that nod is supposed to mean so Ill just ignore it.

But.

What happened to Sia?

Shes currently sleeping after a beating with the metal bat.

You didnt kill her.

I dont kill my disciples.

At the all-too-calm answer I couldnt help but sigh. No, even if he didnt kill them.

There are times when death is the more peaceful option.

Sia said the exact same thing when I told her what happened to Rood.

Rood was there as well?

No, I met him before I came back to the organization. He said he came to take me to the princess.

Just what the heck did this instructor do, that that imperial princess is also chasing after him? Id heard a lot of rumours about that princess.

The most beautiful, but also the one with most thorns.

The counts daughter who sought me often at the club told me that. For the record, this persons nickname in social circles was thornbush.

If a person who got that nickname by mercilessly rejecting the noble men that came after her, gave the princess that evaluation then just what kind of person would she be?

But rumours from others were also different.

I met Her Highness a while ago, she said she was raising black roses as a hobby. She said she was raising them to give to someone, and I thought that the princess had a unexpectedly girlish side to her. Ah, Rein, do you know what a black rose means in the language of flowers?

I was reminded of the dukes daughter who gave me a black rose shed obtained. That was quite troublesome at the time.

In the language of flowers, a black rose meant youre mine.

Unlike her girlish appearance as that dukes daughter shyly gave me the flower, she was actually on the cusp of breaking through to the swordsmaster realm, as well as the vice-captain of the princesss personal knight order.

Meaning, an administrator who directly serves the princess!

The words of an admin always has persuasive power.

Because of that I thought that the rumours from the social circles were all exaggerated.

The rumours from the outside werent great and most of them were from the Great War. How she had become terror incarnate in the hearts of enemy soldiers meant she was that skilled, and even when they discussed who was the most talented person among the imperial family, the princesss name always came up.

I thought that the other noble ladies had just spread rumours out of jealousy of her beauty and talent.

But, at this moment, from what I heard from Sia and the instructor the truth was revealed!

As an active club worker, as someone who served women of nobility, the language of flowers was a tool we used frequently, and to me who could recite the language of flowers off by heart, the meaning of a black rose meant youre mine.

Because the other meanings were too dark and miserable! The noble girls dont want to hear about that!

But considering what I heard from the instructor and Sia, and the obsession that could be compared to Sia and the meaning of youre mine, then other meanings are naturally added on.

Resentment and hatred.

Wow, that fits really well.

I hate you and I resent you but you are still mine!

The image of the princess tending to a bed of black roses while chucking fufufu, sends a shiver down my spine!

What the hell! Theres someone worse off than I am! The imperial princess and Sia! Compared to that, I, who had to flee back to the organization just because of a scrap between dukes daughters am a joke!

If its that combination then any number of lives isnt enough! You need to be able to flee officially or unofficially, but in this case you cant run either in the light or the dark!

And the even more horrifying thing is that even the in the midst of all this the instructor is still running away perfectly fine! What the hell, its scary! And physically the metal bat! Its so scary!

And as I shook in fear the instructor said a shocking story, no a command.

Pretend to be me and flee the organization.

Yes?

If I get caught Im dead. Not just dead, after I get the full imperial torture course to reveal the instructors location and have all my limbs cut off, theyre going to drop acid on my neck one drop at a time to kill me.

No, maybe even worse than that!

In, instructor. I just want to die normally.

With this?

Hiiiik!

But the instructor in front of me has the metal bat! To imagine a choice between one where I die cruelly in pain and where I cant die cruelly in pain!

Why is my future so bleak?!

Instructor, save me

Just what is the princess to you that youre doing this

A Sia on a bigger scale?

I cant refute that.

He didnt deny it. Yep. Im dead.

No matter where I go the only path that awaits me is pain. I wanted to walk a path of flowers as a club host, but reality is a path of thorns no matter where I walk.

Now, if you dont leave soon youll have Sia to deal with as well as the princess.

Where are you going to go instructor

Through another route, across the border where Im going to live my days as a farmer in a kingdom at the end of the world.

The moment I bait the princess Im already dead right?

So use these to convince the kids.

What are they?

The seals of their families. The Nermia countys former head is a current head of a Magic Tower. If you can get help from them, not even the princess can easily lay her hands on them. Same with the other seals, all are part of families that cant easily be ignored.

It sounds logical enough, but would they really go as far as making an enemy out of the princess to help me? I think theyd just take the seals and wipe their hands immediately?

And you also have that.

Although I think that its just going to be a hindrance as were escaping but as a hostage it should be fine.

The woman trussed up in a sack is a beauty on the outside, the reality is a spinster host club regular Sword Star.

Even if she looks like that shes the little sister of the current Marquis Aserid, and a countess in her own right! But!

If I use her as a hostage I think Ill be the one thats a hostage instead?!

Right now shes out and drooling but shes the Sword Star! The most illustrious with the sword! At the same time the most thuggish with the sword! Out of all the fighters that pick scraps for fun, shes the number one fighter!

And because of that, Ive got no shot of

And for that reason, Ill give you that.

Re, really are you really giving me this?!

Its here! Could it be! If that thing is permanently mine I could possibly tread the path where death is a real possibility.

Now, Im fooling you anyway. The princess already knows this. Even if shell want information from you, she probably wont torture or kill you. She was oddly obsessed about the people in my immediate surroundings. Although she might try to win you over to become her subordinate, she wont kill you.

Kurrrghh

Along with my sword, I can feel the weight of the bat. Its light.

But at the same time its heavy. If the weak has a treasure then it is stolen by the strong. Can I protect it?

Now, choose.

I, Ill do it!

But there is no choice! If you were a disciple of the instructor, who could refuse this seduction!

Not even Sia could forget the trauma from our trainee days and went to try to forge one herself, but all she made were failures! And even those failures were bought by the others of our cohort as they saved up their wages for them!

But I, I can have the original! Its not the metal bat, but its still the chance for me to have the wooden bat!

Now, this is your doppelganger. Use this to fool the empires troops.

Pat pat.

As if telling me to do my best, the instructor patted me on the shoulder. I was filled with devotion as I yelled in a confident voice.

Ill defeat any enemy that comes!

You dont necessarily have to defeat them. Well, good luck.

Good luck, instructor!

Looking at the instructor walk away I was saturated in delight. Finally, the bat is in my hands!

Now, No.17. Or should I call you by name from now on?

It, its okay.

Although the kids are looking at me with somewhat repulsed expressions, I dont care right now.

Now, check if your familys seal is in here somewhere.

Uh, yes!

Is the instructor not coming with us?

The instructor is going his own way. We just need to avoid the empires troops for a while, then get caught.

Bait?

No.1000s tilted her head as she asked me. Hm. Well, its right, right?

You could say that.

Its here! I found it!

Why do we have to?

Is the instructor not running away?

No.1 who was staring at me with discontent, No.17 who was happy at having found the seal. And No.1000 who seemed a bit sad.

All unique children just as expected of the instructors disciples.

And theyre also kids that need to run around with me for a while for the instructors sake.

So. Lets give them some motivation.

Any complaints?

None, sir!

As I slightly raised the bat, everyones motivation maxed out. Hmm. As always the bat is all-purpose.

Over there! Theres a person over there!

Damn it, its His Highnesss orders! Find the one called Naruan!

The enemy has already faced off against over 200 of our elites. They are tired!

Dont kill them, but disarm them!

Sounds came far away from beyond the cave. And these voices that are getting closer are the empires soldiers as I expected. To think the empires army would get this close already. I need to hurry up and escape

Temporary instructor!

Cant you call me Rei-uup?!

You dare You dare!

But a greater danger than the empires army came from a lot closer. Somewhere down the line the Sword Star had gotten free from the sack she was in and was glaring at us with eyes filled with rage.

Although there was nothing was in her hand, but to one of the greatest swordsmen of all time, and especially the one judged as having the greatest magic power, it seemed that the matter of actually having a sword or not was irrelevant to her.

Mana sword?

Youre kidding me, right? That kind of magic power is possible?

What was in her hand was a blue sword. That was sword ki, no, compressed mana, a sword where sword aura itself was compressed into a sword!

Sharper than any legendary blade, and more destructive than any magic, that thing gradually grew in shape and form.

Its dangerous. Its too late to run. In that case. Only. One. Way. Out.

Bat style, hidden moves!

Star Destr pathetic!

Bat throw!

Thud!

The bat was thrown square in the face of the Sword Star who had been stupidly amassing mana in both hands.

As youd expect from the Sword Star who had enough talent to fight for the title of the Magic Sword, she blocked it with a magic barrier but that was her mistake!

This bat is a legendary item said to have been made from a branch of the World Tree!

Just its existence alone was enough to shred through magic barriers like paper, hit the Sword Star square in the face and the sound of the bat rolling against the ground was the only thing that filled the air.

And.

Over there! The Sword Star is there too!

The enemy has engaged the Sword Star!

Wait, wait! Somethings wrong!

The, the Sword Star!

It cant be!

Shock and fear, surprise and disbelief were written on the empires soldiers faces, and sure why wouldnt they.

Thud!

The Sword Stars knees hit the ground. Her hands that shed raised to her head dropped.

Of course the Mana Sword had already vanished. Her face hit the earth of the cave and she collapsed just like that. As a result of having blessed to the max by the metal bat, she took in the pure pain from the wooden bat.

And because of that result I.

The enemy has defeated the Sword Star!

Reinforcements! Call for reinforcements!

The enemy is powerful!

Became the one who had defeated the Sword Star.

***

-Hurkhurk good bye, little sister! Youre being sold off because of my bad owner, but well meet again one day!

Leaving behind Rein who emitted the exact aura as a Sect Disciple receiving orders from a Sect Head in one of those old xianxia novels, while listening to the metal bat play out a third-rate soap opera I moved through another escape route Id dug out.

But if youre going to shoot a third-rate soap opera then do it properly, not even hukhuk but hurkhurk, if you werent listening properly youd think it was laughing.

-Hiing, owner doesnt know the pain of farewells! Pouring cold water all over a dramatic separation with my little sister!

-Ive said this before and Ill say it again but that thing was born first.

-Hmph, were tied together with a much thicker fate than just some worldly ties!

Since I am living a said worldly life, no more need be said. Right now for a worldly satisfying life its time to run away!

-So wherere we gonna go, are we really going to run away to the ends of the world and start farming?

No, theres no way Id actually do what I told Rein.

Very much unlike what youd expect from my disciples, Rein actually has a loyal streak.

He takes care of his cohorts, and acknowledges his seniors as his seniors. Perhaps to teach my last cohort properly he diligently beat them with the bat as well.

Unlike the others who uses their comrades as meat shields, alpha strikes their seniors and sincerely beats the crap out of their juniors Rein is oddly normal.

And therefore, the most abnormal of all my disciples.

Because of that, odds are if the princess just brings out a few of his acquaintances from his host days, hell probably spill everything.

Shed just have to bring out one of the dukes daughters that were fighting over him, get them to spill some tears crying,

Rein was it all a lie?

Then game over.

Most likely hell spill everything to prove his sincerity.

Since surprisingly enough, Sia took care of him, the organization didnt notice his personality, and Rein didnt make any mistakes either, but since the organizations already done for then Reins mouth right now is nothing less than an open door.

So of course, a life as a farmer is unfortunately on hold for now. But I will do it one day!

Farming life! Thats a legendary lifestyle that only appears in legends!

Dream of a perfect farmers life! Not a farmer that beats up a demon king, not a villager thats stronger than a hero,(1) but one that just grows fruits and vegetables, and sells them for a living!

-Thank goodness. I was scared for a second there that owner would transform me into a farming tool to plow the fields or something.

Genius?

And I already have a farming tool!

And moreover, a farmers gods tool that automatically blesses the land every time its plows the earth?!

No, would the land die in pain?

I need to experiment.

-Hiiiik, nyoooo! This goddess Arcadia would be used to plow land! Nooo!

Just transform to your human form and poke the ground with your finger. Then wed know.

-Wiihn? Owner didnt you not like it when I transformed into my human form because it used a lot of mana.

You need to be in human form for a while anyway so its alright.

-Wherere we goin?

Since its been a while since she was allowed in human form, the metal bats words were filled with anticipation.

Yes, a place to lie low from the princess for a while. Its a place not even the princess who personally moved to capture me would think of.

-Hurry hurry! Wheres the place where this goddess descends? Wheres the place of my freedom! Hurry and tell me!

Near the imperial capital.

-Hiiik? You nuts? Youre moving right next to the princesss place?

Yes, to be precise.

One of the empires greatest academies. The school that was the closes to the royal palace that the imperial family went to and from.

The summoners school, Yugrasia.