“I was planning on fighting all of you from the start, so it doesn’t make much difference to me. This king was thinking that it will finally be a good fight!”
“Bullcrap!”
Eruya charged. He would crush it with the overwhelming power flowing through his body. He wouldn’t let that beast talk big anymore. While using ‘Shukuchi Kai’, he launched ‘Void Cutter’ to keep it occupied.
“Take this!”
He swung his sword with a shout. If the fur was hard, he would only need to strike harder to cut through.
“Take this king’s 「Slashing Strike」!”
Something sharp struck his arm from above his raised sword.
Something flew into the air and struck the ground, with a liquid sound like a wet sack, accompanied by the clanging of metal.
Eruya didn’t understand.
His two arms, which had been holding a sword, had disappeared. Despite the wounds spurting blood from the severed stumps in time with his heartbeat, he still didn’t understand.
He could see his two arms tightly gripping the sword on the ground, along with the pain which was slowly rising up the ruins of his arms.
As he looked on them, Eruya finally realized what had happened.
Staggering back from Hamsuke, he shouted with a high-pitched voice.
“My arrrrrmmmmmssss! Heal it! I said heal it now! What are you standing around for?”
The elves did not move.
What reflected in their clouded eyes was the secret joy of the abused.
“Alright! Success! I can finally use martial arts! Now I can finally receive praise from my lord!”
“Hiiii!”
Eruya made a splitting scream.
For a humans, which lived in this world with much stronger creatures, to adventure meant to live with constant pain. He had endured much pain until now. He had been struck with lightning, burned with fire, frozen with ice, broken his bones, bitten with fangs, been cut and beaten. But he had never lost his weapon. To lose one’s weapon in this world meant certain death. Or rather, he was confident that he could get out of any situation if he had his weapon.
And now this confidence had been crushed.
It was the first time Eruya had received such a shock since he was born.
“My arms! What are you waiting for!”
Blood spurted out profusely and he could feel his body grow colder and heavier, starting with the wounded area. The elves simply smiled broadly at Eruya’s screams, which resembled the sound of a cracked bell.
Eruya didn’t know how to express the whirlpool of emotion inside of him, but he could hear a voice that could be described as merciful.
“I truly thank thee! I don’t like inflicting needless pain, so I shall end it here!”
Sccchk, something slashed through the air.
Shortly afterward, a shock struck his face. It was the kind of pain that felt as if it had shattered every bone in his body and was enough to make him forget about his arms.
That was the last pain Eruya ever felt.
♦ ♦ ♦
With half its face gone, the corpse collapsed.
“Hmmm hmmm.”
Hamsuke turned its head and slowly backed off. If he stayed close to the corpse, the elves would be wary and not approach the corpse. The elves appeared to be magic casters but could decide to use Eruya’s sword to fight. Hamsuke had no desire to stop them from doing so.
“Now, do you wish to fight as we—?”
Hamsuke mumbled his words in surprise. The elves were kicking the corpse, which Hamsuke assumed was their comrade, with sneers on their face.
“What is this? Is this the elven way of burying the dead?”
Hamsuke doubted that as it spoke. In their cloudy and dead eyes were sparks of hatred. It could only be overflowing rage.
“— This is truly troublesome.”
The order had been to use the skills it had learned so far on the intruders and to show the results of the training. But if he fought an unwilling enemy, could that truly be considered “showing the result of the training”? If they at least stood to fight, it would have been better than nothing.
“I heard that taunting is a good strategy as well… What should I say? I don’t know… I suppose it can’t be helped. I shall wait for the orders from my lord. But—”
Hamsuke turned around to face the one who was judging the battle.
“How was it, Zaryusu-dono? Did I pass?”
“Yes, it was wonderful. The martial art definitely activated.”
Hamsuke smiled brightly at the warrior who had taught him the martial art.
“This is truly a joyous occasion! Then will I finally start with the combat training while wearing armour?”
“That would be the next step. We’ll start with light armour first and then move onto heavier ones.”
Hamsuke hadn’t worn armour until now. It felt too awkward and it was hard to move freely while wearing it. There weren’t many problems when running normally, but in combat, it lost its balance when swinging its tail and could not strike accurately. That’s why Hamsuke learned from the lizardmen and imitated their training to learn to fight.
“Please watch Hamsuke become stronger for my lord! How long would it take for me to properly call myself a warrior? The Warrior Hamsuke.”
“Let’s see… if it’s Hamsuke-san, you would be able to call yourself a warrior in about a month, no, two months.”
“So long!”
“I think it’s pretty short. Hamsuke-san, it usually takes about a year to learn martial arts. Considering that, you’re learning pretty fast.”
Another lizardman beside Zaryusu, Zenberu, spoke out.
“Is that so?”
“That’s right. Real battle experience, healing when you’re injured, fighting stronger opponent with enhancement magic, etc. It might be hellish training, but it gets results.”
Hamsuke shuddered. The rest of the lizardmen did so too as they remembered their training so far.
“…How should I put this. I hope it’s not the kind of training that takes us within arms’ reach of death.”
“Personally, I feel you get stronger more quickly in life or death situations, but… I guess everybody is different. Plus, if the newly wed husband dies, it’ll be pretty sad.”