New chapter of Nameless Hero is out! (1/2 chapters)
Card Game: Warrior (3)
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The match between Alfred and Skin was quiet, but it was obvious that it was intense.
But Fred didn’t notice! Just now, Fred’s hand had clearly reflected on the surface of the water. Fortunately, a strong wind blew, which blocked the reflection on the water’s surface, but the fact that that guy had seen his initial hand was still valuable information. I don’t know what cards Skin has, but he probably has both Light S and Bow S.
From the third turn, both of them were thinking for quite a long time. Alfred was trying to maintain a poker face while saying something provocative, but it might have been a bluff, or it might have been a technique to make us think it was a bluff. At this point, this world of lies was so confusing that I couldn’t tell what was real or not anymore.
“Here we go?! Ready, set—” (Alfred)
But why? Why is our red leader so certain? Now that I think about it, he didn’t hesitate even when we were infiltrating the dungeon. How does he move forward so straightforwardly? Doesn’t he feel all the kinds of anxiety I feel? Is “reckless Alfred” just an alias for someone who doesn’t think?
And then the cards were slammed onto the table.
*Fred’s Bow A vs Skin’s Bow B*
It is a tie. In terms of rank, Fred is one level higher, but in Warrior, anything below S is trash.
“…Heh… hehehe! Heh-hee-hee!” (Skin)
Skin was laughing crazily.
I see. Fred’s remaining cards are Sword S and Dark S. Both of them would lose to Light S.
“Serves you right! Hey, Iberico’s leader! Serves you right, huh? Hey, hey!” (Skin)
Skin stood up, pumped his fist in victory, and looked down on Alfred.
“You’re pathetic, joining up with this pig party! Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to sell you off to a good place! Heh-hee-hee!” (Skin)
Am I going to become a slave? And will Lindsey and Riz also be those people’s toys? Damn it!
“Why, Fred! Why are you losing?!” (Jack)
I couldn’t stop myself and grabbed onto Fred.
I can’t forgive this failure, even though he’s the leader. Fred kept his head down. I couldn’t read his expression, but was he too shocked by the defeat to face me?
“—The pig is you, you cheater.” (Alfred)
However, Alfred’s straight eyes hadn’t changed.
“Huh?” (Skin)
“That’s right, the pig is you, I’m telling you.” (Alfred)
“Stop pretending to be tough! You’ve already lost, man!” (Skin)
Without any signal, Skin slammed his Light S card down in front of Fred.
“Ha, ha, now show it. Your cards.” (Skin)
He kept provoking Fred. Fred stared back at him without changing his expression.
“Ahh, looks like you’re trying to go straight to the pigpen, huh, you pig.” (Alfred)
“What did you say?!” (Skin)
Fred quietly took out one card from his hand and then calmly tossed it onto the floor. The card that was depicted on it was… the Sword E card!
“Huh?! Hey, what’s the meaning of this, are you cheating?!” (Skin)
“Cheating? I didn’t do anything. I accepted all the conditions, didn’t I?” (Alfred)
“Stop messing around! You swapped the cards right in front of me, didn’t you?!” (Skin)
“Swap? I changed the card right in front of your eyes.” (Alfred)
“What do you—ah!” (Skin)
Skin immediately started rummaging through the discard pile, and quickly found the Dark S card, and also the Sword S card. Alfred had already discarded both Dark S and Sword S during the first card exchange. He had challenged the final crucial battle with just trash cards. It was just like when he fought me in the first match.
That’s why I lost to these trash cards. What a gutsy man. The enemy must not have expected such recklessness at a critical moment.
“I don’t suit Darkness.” (Alfred)
“Grrr…” (Skin)
The two villains, having admitted defeat and cornered, began to break out in a cold sweat.
“You don’t have the resolve. You think a bunch of cheaters like you can beat me?” (Alfred)
“Damn it, aaahhh!” (Skin)
Skin rushed at Alfred. With both hands spread wide, he charged forward. However, Alfred dove straight into his opponent’s chest and slammed the heel of his hand into his solar plexus. Skin immediately fell to his knees. At that moment, a strange electric sound began to echo.
“Huh?” (Jack)
“Paralyze!” (Bucktooth)
The Bucktooth blasted Alfred with an electric magic attack. It didn’t seem very powerful, but the waves of electricity were crawling toward Alfred’s feet.
“Ugh!” (Alfred)
Alfred was caught off guard and was hit directly by the blow. His legs went numb and he fell to his knees in pain.
“Hey, let’s get out of here!” (Bucktooth)
“O-Okay…” (Skin)
Bucktooth darted out of the street vendor tent, and Skin, clutching his stomach, followed after him.
“Jack! Go after them!” (Alfred)
Following Alfred’s shout, the fake Excalibur flew into my arm. I clumsily caught it.
“Use that to beat them down!” (Alfred)
“…” (Jack)
Should I really go after those two? —No, I’ve made up my mind. I’m a member of Liberta.
“I’m telling you, I’m counting on you as a warrior. Don’t worry, Liberta is the strongest! Jack, you’re strong too!” (Alfred)
“…Yeah!” (Jack)
And so, I charged out of the messy street vendor tent, chasing after the two villains.
—
Soon, I spotted the two of them. The damage to Skin seemed worse, and he wasn’t running that fast. Even so, they were desperately trying to escape. Without caring about the people around them, they were pushing through the crowd, wrecking whatever festival decorations came in their way as they forced their way down the main street. All the beautiful decorations were being ruined.
I can’t forgive this. I’ll definitely catch them!
I ran with all my might. He slipped through the crowd and closed the distance.
“Kyaa, watch out!” (??)
“Whoa, what’s this?” (??)
People I overtook would sometimes shout in surprise or displeasure, but I ignored them and kept charging forward.
“Damn it, this kid is persistent!” (Bucktooth)
The buck-toothed guy noticed my approach and violently knocked over a wooden box piled up at a nearby stall, obstructing my path. The wooden boxes scattered chaotically across the road.
I used the piled-up wooden boxes as a stepping stone, jumped up to the eaves of a building that jutted out, and ran across it. I kept running along the eaves, and when I finally overtook the two enemies, I landed back onto the street. A crowd of onlookers, keeping their distance, surrounded the two villains and me in a circle, and before I knew it, the street had become a fight arena.
“I caught up!” (Jack)
“Phew… phew… What do you think a brat like you can do… phew…” (Skin)
“Don’t underestimate me! Liberta is the strongest!” (Jack)
“Tch…——Paralyze!” (Bucktooth)
The Bucktooth immediately cast an electric magic attack. I dodged several lightning bolts by jumping.
“Stop hopping around…!” (Bucktooth)
The buck-toothed guy started casting ice magic in the air.
But now I have a weapon. A fake Excalibur entrusted to me by Alfred. Even though it’s a fake, it’s a sword entrusted to me by my leader, and it gives me courage.
“Hey, what do you think you’re going to do with a toy-like sword? You planning to do a swordfight or something?” (Bucktooth)
I removed the cloth wrapped around the fake Excalibur and threw it away. I recalled the swordsmanship Tristan had taught me. The basic stance. I raised the sword with the point vertically upwards above my right shoulder, preparing for the enemy’s attack.
“Showing off, huh?! Take this!” (Bucktooth)
Countless ice spikes came at me. But they were slow. I could see them. There were eight strikes. Eight ice spikes came straight at me. I predicted their exact order, and I sliced them one by one.
I must never forget the basic stance. If I couldn’t adjust the sword vertically in time, I would rely on the natural flow of the sword and adjust my stance to create a counterattack.
“You blocked them?! This brat doesn’t seem like a complete amateur!” (Bucktooth)
“Let’s just do this all at once! Go!” (Skin)
The skinhead guy, despite the painful expression on his face, charged at me. His huge body was full of openings. It was as if he wasn’t planning to defend himself and didn’t mind getting cut a little.
A slowpoke like him would be easy to deal with in an instant.
The ice spikes were closing in from behind. I turned my sword around to face backwards and crouched down to prepare for a low stance. I slid into his legs at the right moment and cut at his ankle.
The skinhead’s leg was hit, and he fell to the ground. I immediately stood up from my sliding position, running without losing momentum. I reached Bucktooth and thrust the sword’s tip at his throat.
“Quit resisting and get captured!” (Jack)
“This damn brat…!” (Bucktooth)
At this point, the outcome was clear.
“Ugh… gah!!” (Bucktooth)
But right after that, Bucktooth screamed for some reason. I looked up, wondering what had happened, and saw someone’s hand from behind me reach out and grab Bucktooth’s face. His expression was twisted in pain. When I looked back to see who the hand belonged to, there was a scholarly-looking man wearing a brown vest and casually sweeping his curly brown hair back. It was Dwayne.
I was taken aback by the unexpected sight and lowered my sword, creating some distance. As soon as I moved away, Dwayne released his right hand and immediately smashed his left fist into the buck-toothed guy’s chin, following up with a right straight punch that sent him flying.
“Good grief, this is troublesome. You mess with one of my young members and…” (Dwayne)
At that moment, the skinhead guy, bleeding from his ankle, tried to charge at Dwayne from behind.
“…Hraa! Die!!” (Skin)
The skinhead guy’s body blow aimed at Dwayne. However, Dwayne easily dodged it, jumping up to kick the enemy’s head, and then, without hesitation, performed a spinning kick to his back that sent him flying. The kick cut through the air, and there was a nasty crack from Skin’s back, and he collapsed next to the already unconscious Bucktooth, so quickly that an untrained eye would have no idea what had happened.
I didn’t know Dwayne was so strong in hand-to-hand combat.
“You guys are in the wrong inn.” (Dwayne)
A magical geometric circle appeared around the two villains, and it began glowing a strong green light. In an instant, the two villains disappeared.
That is a Transit Circle… teleportation magic!
“Wh-what… Dwayne…?” (Jack)
“Are you okay, Jack?” (Dwayne)
“Y-yeah.” (Jack)
Witnessing Dwayne’s unexpected martial prowess left me with an intense feeling of fear, especially since he was acting as nonchalant as ever.
“More importantly, where are they?” (Jack)
“They should be in a prison cell by now.” (Dwayne)
“Eh?!” (Jack)
“Yesterday, I got permission and set things up in the government’s prison.” (Dwayne)
I see, so Dwayne was at the government office yesterday? So, was this what Alfred had asked Dwayne about that morning?
“Heh… looks like it’s over.” (Alfred)
“Ah, Fred. You’re here.” (Jack)
Alfred limped towards them, pushing his way through the crowd of onlookers. His leg was probably still numb. Dwayne seemed to notice and placed his hand over his leg, quickly casting a healing magic on him.
“Fred, did you plan on capturing those two from the start?” (Jack)
“Of course.” (Alfred)
After hearing the details, it seemed that Alfred had known about the two conmen as soon as he arrived in town and had been scheming to capture them. The conmen’s trick was the Warrior’s three-match game. They’d let the opponent win the first round, to make them think they could win. Then, they’d win the next two matches and steal money and equipment from their victims.
Alfred had sent me to the market as a decoy while he investigated, eventually tracking down the two conmen. He noticed that the conmen were using water magic to peek at cards. To counter this, he had decided to darken the match area and used flames to illuminate it from all directions, preventing any water surface reflection. The strong gust of wind that blew during the match wasn’t a coincidence, it was Dwayne’s magic. When Alfred stomped the ground with a strong thud, Dwayne summoned the gust of wind across the streets.
“The Warrior match?” (Jack)
“What about it?” (Alfred)
“Did you cheat during the card game?” (Jack)
“We didn’t need to cheat.” (Alfred)
“Then, what would you have done if you actually lost?” (Jack)
Alfred looked up at the sky for a moment, as if thinking, then shrugged and said.
“I would’ve dealt with it when the time came!” (Alfred)
Our party leader sure is reckless. Well, if this guy had gone wild, those villains wouldn’t have gotten away so easily. He deliberately joined the game, knowing he could beat them. That’s Alfred for you.
“By the way, Jack, you helped out this time.” (Alfred)
He patted my head with his big hand.
“If you hadn’t chased them down and stopped them, they might’ve escaped. You did well!” (Alfred)
Little by little, I was being recognized as a member of the Liberta party. Even without magic, I could hold my own in battle and was starting to be useful to the team.
—
Afterward, we received a reward from the government. A total of 4.38 million G. It was an enormous amount of money. The city probably wanted to clean up before the important festival. The government workers expressed their gratitude, and Liberta’s reputation grew even higher. Then, we went to the weapons shop where we’d bought the fake Excalibur and got Alfred’s real sword back. As promised, we also purchased the two-handed sword.
“Heard you caught those conmen?” (Weapon shop owner)
“Yeah! The bastard sword you sold us worked great!” (Alfred)
“Heh, if that sword helped you deal with the bad guys, I’m happy to keep selling it to you.” (Weapon shop owner)
“Haha, thanks. We’ll be back.” (Fred)
We parted ways with the dark-skinned bald weapon shop owner. It seemed like rumors spread fast in this city. Liberta’s deeds had become widely known, and there was even talk of a strong kid being in the party. I couldn’t help but feel happy about it.
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