Chapter 19 - The Duel

Chapter 19 – The Duel

Author's Note: None today!

Naofumi and Motoyasu were exchanging a flurry of blows, the latter getting slightly scratched up in the process. At this point, it looked as if Motoyasu would win.

The sound of the crowd cheering for Motoyasu was deafening. His fangirls were jumping up and down, chanting his name. Even Indigo was looking skeptical.

Suddenly, the audience fell silent. Everyone was too shocked to say anything.

An orange balloon emerged from Naofumi's cloak, biting Motoyasu's face and causing a red spot to appear. Naofumi then threw three more balloons at the confused Motoyasu, one of them biting his crotch.

Meanwhile, the crowd was absolutely outraged.

"You want to win like this?"

"You cheater! Have you no shame?"

Naofumi, ignoring the chatter from above, started tossing eggugs at Motoyasu. He used Air Strike Shield and Shield Prison on Motoyasu. At this point, Motoyasu was definitely going to lose.

Woosh!

Naofumi appeared to be shoved from behind, causing him to be blown forward and wince in shock. I searched all around, attempting to identify the source of the attack.

There it was.

Myne had cast a spell called "Wing Blow", which I had read about in the magic encyclopedias that Eda had read me. The attack threw a transparent fist of wind at the intended target. Seeming plenty proud of herself for her achievement, she made a mocking face at Naofumi.

I didn't particularly care about the outcome of this duel, though I did have my bets riding on Naofumi for the chance to make more money, but one problem I did have was cheating. I looked around, but the king didn't do anything. Motoyasu, taking advantage of this, launched a barrage of attacks on Naofumi.

I had had enough. After whispering to Indigo about what I intended to do, he agreed and underwent his transformation. Amidst the shocked crowd, we leaped over them and stood at the center of the arena.

"I have detected cheating in this duel, coming from the side of the Spear Hero, Motoyasu. His party member has cast the spell "Wing Blow" on the Shield Hero Naofumi, knocking him over and giving the Spear Hero an unfair advantage. Per the rules, the Spear Hero should be disqualified on the basis of cheating. Your Majesty, any thoughts?"

"No way." Motoyasu stared at me, agape. "I didn't cheat?"

Ren, supposedly here to back my side of the argument, also walked towards the middle of the arena.

"Your Majesty, Satoshi here is telling the truth. My party also detected cheating on Motoyasu's behalf."

"This accusation is completely false! What do you think, your Majesty?

"The king has fallen silent. I think he understands what is going on as well."

Motoyasu faced the crowd for support, but they all looked away quite depressingly.

"No fair! He threw monsters at me and attacked my crotch!"

"Well," I reasoned. "This isn't boxing. Shots beneath the waist is totally fair."

Motoyasu, upset that the outcome of the duel did not go his way, returned to the castle. The crowd quickly followed in his footsteps.

Indigo and I quickly hurried to the entrance before they could.

"You know what this means. Pay up."

Facing the massive bird and the bow hero, the noblemen and clergy had no choice but to respect the bet. That day alone, we got two times richer.

As the spectators bemusedly returned to the banquet hall, my party and I returned to the same room which I had rested in my first night here. After having a brief discussion about our upcoming plans, I set up my sleeping bag in the middle of the floor. Indigo did the same and we all quickly fell asleep.

My party and I had returned to Castle Town. We had grinded for 2 weeks after basically wiping out half of the Sky Blue Wings population and tons of lizard monsters and large wolves. Now my level reached the low 60s. My party members and Indigo were somewhere in the 50s.

As we sat down in the tavern that we started our adventure in, peacefully sipping our apple cider, I heard the sound of worried screaming as a man in tattered rags stumbled in.

"Are you the bow hero? Please! We need your help!"

"Sure thing." I naturally replied. "What is happening?"

The exhausted man, who I bought an apple cider for, told us that his village, Lerno, had been visited by Motoyasu, who had given them something called a BioPlant seed. It was supposed to be a miracle of sorts that could give them plentiful food, but it turned into an abomination and started attacking the villagers."

Motoyasu. That man always had to cause trouble somewhere. Although I should really be heading to the northern kingdom now, I guess I could help. Couldn't take too long anyways.

"Fine." I replied. "I will help your village defeat this BioPlant. All I ask in return is half of the plant's seeds so I can investigate it and conduct further research."

"No problem. Thank you for your help. Please, let us make haste. The village will not last much longer."

We returned to the inn and loaded up Indigo's cart. After making a quick shopping run around town, I used a compass and began heading towards Lerno village, with the man acting as my guide.

Soon, we pulled up to the village gates. The village elder was there to greet us, and further explain the situation.

Apparently, the BioPlant seed had been watched over by a guardian for a long time, but the spear hero gave the seed to them, and blindly trusting him, they planted the seeds. It had just recently started to go berserk, so not much damage had been done, but it was only getting worse and worse.

"Please, bow hero! You must help us!"

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't going to help you. I'll get this problem sorted before nightfall."

"But sir hero! Are you sure you only want the seeds as compensation?"

"It is my duty to help those in need." I assured him. "And I'm only using these seeds for research purposes anyways."

The villagers all bowed to me in respect. I waved at them as we headed towards the source of the problem. Good thing I was fully prepared for this.

I took out much of the weed killer that I had purchased at the capital and started dumping it all over the vines, which withered away as soon as the liquid touched it. I quickly found what appeared to be a tree, which in reality was just a bunch of vines tangled together.

"Kill it, Indigo."

Without further ado, Indigo chucked his halberd at the source of this catastrophe, eliminating it instantly as the rest of the vines collapsed into a heap.

Chapter 20 out soon!