Chapter 4 — There’s No Way I Can Beat Someone Who Can Shoot Beams From His Sword!

Yogiri stared at the pendant in his hand. On the end of the gold chain was a circular ornament about the size of a coin. The design on it depicted a dragon, sword, and lion.

While the delicate engraving certainly did suggest that it was an item of considerable value, the behavior of the guards upon seeing it still seemed rather bizarre. The men who had been interrogating them moments earlier were now kneeling dutifully before them. It must have been entirely due to them seeing the pendant, but it was strange that they'd be able to make out the design from so far away.

"Uh, what is this?" Tomochika asked, just as confused as Yogiri.

"No idea. Why don't we ask them?" He turned expectantly to the man who had identified himself as the head of security for the South Gate.

"That is an amulet engraved with the emblem of the Royal Family. As a token that carries their authority, it serves as an order to those loyal to them."

"You were just suggesting that we're faking having the Gift. Are you not worried this might be a fake too?"

"We would never mistake the authority of the King," Torques replied instantly. Yogiri couldn't understand his reasoning, but the guard seemed absolutely sure of himself.

"And you don't know about this authority unless we show it to you?"

"Correct. There is, of course, no way for us to tell while it is in your pocket."

"So then, can we go through?"

"Of course —"

"Can you wait a minute, please?" a voice called out from behind Yogiri. Turning around, he saw a man wearing the same uniform as the guards step out from behind the truck. He seemed to be part of the troop, but had a somewhat different air about him.

Yogiri showed him the amulet, assuming the man just hadn't been able to see it from behind the vehicle. He figured if the amulet was enough to make the guards obey him, he could skip over a lot of potentially irritating parts of this encounter.

"It seems you've misunderstood something. That amulet only displays the will of the Royal Family. It's not something you can use to simply make us all do as you say." The man spoke with an overflowing confidence, clearly looking down on them.

"Oh, really?"

"Indeed," Torques replied, adding his own warning. "It exists only to show the will of the Royal Family. Our subservience comes from our loyalty to Richard himself. Please don't think it will give you a free pass to do whatever you please."

Apparently, it wasn't as convenient of an item as Yogiri had hoped.

"My name is David," the new arrival said. "I possess the lowest seat in the Royal Family, so I'm not particularly worried about Richard."

"David! Control your tongue!" Torques snapped.

"I'm the vice-captain here. If the captain makes a poor decision, it is my job to stop him, isn't it? Yes, I see the amulet is certainly one of Richard's. That tells us two things. The first is that we should provide whatever accommodations we can for you. There is no issue with that. I imagine you met Richard somewhere and befriended him. But what about the other meaning, indicating that you two are Knights of the Divine King?"

"Knight of the Divine King" was a title bestowed upon one who had passed the trials in the Swordmaster's tower. The moment they had reached the first floor, that title had been automatically awarded to Yogiri and Tomochika.

"If you're a Knight, then you should have a holy sword handed down by the Swordmaster. Can you show me? If you do, I'll believe you."

"But we weren't given anything like that. Oh, wait, didn't he mention something about swords?"

"These things are important, Takatou! Please try to remember them!"

"Well, Rick became the Swordmaster, but since the tower was destroyed, he said they couldn't make holy swords right away. So he gave me these amulets instead." Yogiri's memory was actually quite good, but that only applied to things he made a point to remember. At the time, he had accepted the amulets from Rick without thinking too much about it.

"Well, you've outed yourselves now. Richard, a Swordmaster? Don't be ridiculous."

"I don't know what you want me to say," Yogiri replied, scratching his head. He had thought the amulets would be enough to get them through situations like this, but they seemed to have reached an impasse. He had no intention of lying, but there wasn't much he could do to prove his claims, either. The fact was, it was all starting to become a pain.

"If you are truly Knights, then show me your skills with a sword!" David challenged, drawing his own weapon.

"David! What are you doing?!"

"It's simple. Someone who fails to defeat even me, someone who has no title at all, couldn't possibly be a Knight of the Divine King." He turned back to the two teens. "So, what will it be?"

Torques fell silent, unable to argue the point, while Yogiri and Tomochika exchanged a look.

"Now what?"

"Maybe we should back off for now? Let's try to find a more peaceful way of getting into the city."

Now, now, Tomochika, why don't you just fight him? Mokomoko offered.

"Right, if I 'just fight him' then we can easily get through," she replied sarcastically. "There's no way I could beat someone who can shoot beams from his sword!"

Fear not. This individual possesses no such abilities!

"Really? Even so..."

"Why don't you give it a shot?" Yogiri suggested. "If things look dangerous, I'll step in. If we can't get into the capital, it'll be a real problem for us. You say we should find another way, but I honestly can't think of anything."

After hesitating for a short while, Tomochika gave in and decided to fight.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tomochika stood five meters away from David. The vice-captain's weapon was a double-edged longsword, about a meter long. Tomochika had a kodachi, a single-bladed Japanese shortsword of about fifty centimeters, which Ryouta had included in the supplies he had prepared for them in Hanabusa.

The guards made a circle around the two, which Yogiri joined. It didn't seem like there were any traps, and the only one with any killing intent at the moment was David.

"If she wins, you'll recognize us as Knights and let us into the capital, right?" Yogiri confirmed, standing beside Torques.

"Yes, of course. We don't normally restrict entry into the city, and for us, Richard's amulet is proof enough to grant you passage, but I can't overrule the vice-captain's objections."

The guard named David seemed to have some degree of royal blood, but his relationship with the captain was obviously more complicated than that.

"Takatou, why are you standing around like you're a spectator?! You're my second here, come on!" Tomochika shouted as Yogiri chatted with the guard.

Yogiri stepped into the circle and took up a position at her side. "What, do you want to swap?" he asked. She did look pretty stressed about the whole situation, and he didn't want to push her into something she wasn't ready for.

"Can you even use a sword?"

"I can pretend. If I just kill him and then stab him after he's dead, it would be pretty believable, right?"

"You think a cheap trick like that would work?"

I would prefer that you leave things up to Tomochika. She has relied on you for too long. The ghost turned to her descendant. You feel that you should do more for yourself as well, don't you?

"Well, yeah, but do you think I can actually beat this guy? Oh...what about that weapon from the robot?" Tomochika still had the transforming gear the Aggressor had given her. If she used it, an opponent with nothing but a longsword would be no challenge at all.

You will not use it this time. You will have no need for such a thing, Mokomoko declared with absolute confidence.

"But the people of this world all have the Gift, don't they?"

This man is an ordinary human. Those who can use the Gift are somewhat rare in this world. I haven't been idly floating around after you two, you know. I've been doing some research of my own. And while my abilities are not as thorough as someone's Discernment skill might be, I can get a general feel for the overall strengths of others.

"I wasn't too worried about it before, but are the people of this world all that different from us?"

To make a long story short, the humans of this world are effectively the same as those from ours. As such, the Dannoura School of Martial Arts will be more than sufficient for dispatching them.

"What do you mean?" Yogiri asked, his curiosity piqued.

The Dannoura School primarily consists of techniques designed specially for fighting humans. The practice utilizes techniques based on the construction of the human body, natural reflexes, and even psychology. As such, its potential effectiveness was among the first things that I investigated upon reaching this world. And even if they had been very different in construction from the humans of our world, we would need only make some changes to compensate for that. The Dannoura School marches ever forward in its evolution! Stopping is forbidden!

"But there are, like, beastkin and things here, remember?" Tomochika asked. "What about them?"

They are essentially human. The majority of our techniques will still be effective against them. They are somewhat akin to Chimeras. Genetic information from animals was merged with human DNA...but that's not important right now.

"That makes me even more curious."

"Shall we begin?" David interrupted, apparently sick of waiting for their conversation to finish. "Hey, someone give us a starting signal!"

Captain Torques took a step forward. "This contest will be one-on-one. No outside intervention will be permitted. The match will be decided when one party is unable to continue or concedes. That said, there is no need for killing. If I give the signal, the fight will be considered over. Is that acceptable?"

Based on this explanation, aside from being a one-on-one, it seemed like anything went. The two duelists nodded.

"Begin!" As Torques indicated the start of the match, Yogiri backed out of the way.

The battle began quietly with David raising his sword above his head.

Hmm. Similar to the roof-guard of Western swordsmanship. In simple terms, it is the same as the Japanese Joudan stance.

Tomochika turned her body to lead with her shoulder, as if taking a fencing stance, pointing her sword directly at her opponent's face. Her left hand was held behind her, resting on her hip, as she began to wave the tip back and forth.

"Worst case, I'll just kill him, so I'm not that worried...but do you think she can actually beat him?" Yogiri didn't feel the need to play along with David's game. The guard had challenged them, so there was no obligation for him to hold back. He could easily dispatch the vice-captain and move on.

Worry not, this is an excellent opportunity for her. Absolutely do not interfere.

"Her opponent seems confident enough."

He is well practiced. He also seems quite certain that you two do not possess the Gift.

"Even through our disguise? We're supposed to look like we're secretly Sage candidates."

As the two of them had previously been given rings to hide their real Stats, they could disguise themselves as either Sage candidates or ordinary humans, although at the moment the rings were set to show them as the former.

Yes, well...while your Stats indicate that you are Sage candidates, they don't seem to display a particularly effective form of the Gift. In short, you both look quite weak.

"I guess that makes sense. It would be awkward if it listed a power we don't actually have." But that was an issue in and of itself. It seemed they would have to look into how exactly the rings hid their Stats. "This guy's got a pretty standard combat style, but the Dannoura style is very different, right?"

To Yogiri, Tomochika's stance looked pretty strange. He had no idea how she would actually be able to fight like that.

Oh? Are you interested in the Dannoura School? Very well, allow me to enlighten you!

"Yeah, I'm a bit curious."

The Dannoura School's motto is, "Anything goes! Express your own eccentricities!" Something like that. If you are going to fight, find the most underhanded strategy and execute it without hesitation. That is what we teach. Asking for fairness in a fight to the death is absurd. Once you die, there's nothing left, after all.

"Doesn't that make her a pretty bad successor?" Yogiri asked, recalling Tomochika's feelings about killing so far. It seemed like a style of fighting that didn't suit her at all.

Well, she is rather honest deep down. It is true she is not particularly well suited to deception, but there are other reasons she is ideal for the role. Ah, it appears they have begun.

"It looks like they're just staring at each other to me."

Her opponent seems intent on leveraging his superior reach. If she charges at him, he need only bring his sword down on her, so there is no need for him to act first. But Tomochika is already making her move.

Now that she mentioned it, Yogiri noticed that Tomochika had narrowed her stance, moving her left foot directly behind her right as she inched forward.

She has hidden her left foot from the enemy. She is closing the distance between them while pulling her sword ever so slightly backwards, to give the illusion that she isn't moving at all. While it doesn't sound like much to explain, it is a rather clever trick. Now that he'll no longer have an accurate idea of her range, she will be attacking soon, Mokomoko declared.

It would only be a moment before her challenger was writhing on the ground.

◇ ◇ ◇

Seeing her opponent wield his sword in a high-guard stance, Tomochika was a bit afraid. All she had to defend herself with was the shortsword in her hand, and judging from the weight alone, it seemed unlikely to be a reliable defense. If she took a direct attack, she'd be dead — an obvious conclusion, so she was understandably concerned.

But she didn't shrink away from that fear. All of that was to be expected when facing another's blade. Even now, she was slowly closing the distance between them. She moved her feet in small enough increments that the movements weren't obvious, keeping her eyes locked on his. She had the timing down. Her plan was simple enough.

The moment he blinked, she flew into action. Throwing her sword a short distance into the air, she lurched towards him. As she fell almost parallel to the ground, she kicked off the dirt and slid forward, closing the distance between them in one smooth motion. Whipping her left hand around to grab the back of her opponent's knee, she tried to sweep his leg out from under him while pulling herself upright.

She had hoped it would be enough to knock him over, but his feet were firmly planted, so instead, she used the opening it had created to circle around behind him. Now that she was there, the rest was easy. Even unarmed, there were plenty of critical weak points she could exploit from the back.

In response to her trying to sweep his leg out, David had opened his stance wide. Tomochika brought her foot up between his legs as hard as she could.

Yogiri had no idea what had happened. By the time he realized what was going on, Tomochika's sword was on the ground and the man was on his knees, clutching his groin. Tomochika stood behind him, studying her handiwork.

A fake vanishing technique. It must have seemed to him like she just disappeared, Mokomoko mused.

"What do you mean by fake?"

There were many actions required before she "disappeared." She lined up her actions with the moment her opponent blinked, threw her sword to snare his attention, and dropped her own body to escape his field of view. The process involved is what makes it "fake." A true vanishing technique wouldn't require such tricks. Though it pains me to admit he was not from the Dannoura School, I once knew a martial arts master who could disappear from sight without any tricks at all.

Yogiri was impressed. He had thought the Dannoura School pitch was just Mokomoko talking big this whole time, but it actually seemed to be quite useful.

"Looks like I win," Tomochika remarked. "Or would you like me to finish him off?"

"Th-The match is decided!" Torques called out hurriedly, declaring her the victor.

The gathered guards began to cheer. Apparently David wasn't all that popular.