When everyone finished their preparation, we left the simple village. Since I didn’t think we would be able to have a good rest in the dungeon, yesterday could be said to be lucky. everyone ‘s willpower had substantially increased.
It seems that aside from us, there are also several other parties that left the village. Since its going to be troublesome if we got into a fight over the monsters, we head in towards the different direction from them. Diabell tried to take care of me on our way, but Claire stops her every time, so she’s showing a bit of an unsatisfied face right now.
Being the popular guy sure is hard~, but right now is not the time for me to say such thing. I want to avoid the situation where the mood of the party worsen because of me. Amyl and Lelena shows no intentions of butting in, showing that it’s not of their concern.
“Calm down, both of you. Since you’re companions from the same party, please get along well.”
“But master, I think it’s normal for me to be the one taking care of master.”
“However Claire, as I am my lord’s attendant don’t you think it’s natural for me to attend to him?”
“I am still master’s first slave!”
I give up. This will get us nowhere. Since Claire had contracted as my slave before Diabell, I think of saying “leave it to you senpai”, but I don’t think that’s gonna work. Since I can’t order Diabell yet without the contract, she will just insist that they should decide by who’s stronger.
“Understood. Then let’s have a match!”
Claire-san? Why are you suddenly acting like a kid? You’re not supposed to be that aggressive.
“Is that okay, Claire? Although there’s some difference in level, do you think you have more combat experience than me?”
Don’t get provoked either, you. Both of them ignores me while preparing for their battle. Although they’re fighting because of me, I feel like they don’t even care about me right now. It seems impossible to stop this now. Can’t be helped, since it’s going to be difficult exploring the dungeon while leaving behind unpleasant feelings, I will decide the rules here.
“Understood. Then I will decide the rules. The rules are aside from the short sword as the main weapon, you are only allowed to use you own body as a support. Magic and bow are prohibited. And stop before dealing the killing blows. Also, there will be no complain whatsoever after the results of this match. If you didn’t follow this rule, I won’t take either of you. Both of you fine with this?”
There doesn’t seem to be any objections as both of them nods. We pause the dungeon exploration for a bit, not to mention Amyl and Elena are already in ‘watching-the-show’ mode. They even had tea and snacks prepared. By the way, Shallie is quietly sitting on top of Lelena’s lap.
I took a distance and stood between those two as the referee and the healing staff, so I should be near when there’s a chance anything bad happens. The two people prepared their dagger as they glared at each other. The tension rises, as I give the signal to start.
“Begin!”
At that instant Claire fiercely kicks the ground and close the distance. Diabell seems like she intends face her on the front as she does not move from her place. Claire put some power in her swing, but Diabell just warded it off by letting it slide from her sword.
Claire delivers the attacks one after another, but Diabell just concentrates on parrying with minimal movements. Originally Claire exceeds in both speed and power, so Diabell is using the strategy of strengthening her defense while looking for an opening.
Both of them had the same ‘Swordsmanship: Level 2’. This is going to be advantageous for Claire with higher stamina if this turned into a prolonged battle. However she seems to be in a hurry, as she sometimes put too much power and hit nothing. She intends to push with just power alone. Diabell that had lowered herself on the ground to dodge seems to have been waiting for this.
Claire’s sword that missed the target suddenly moved upward, breaking her posture. Diabell did a leg sweep there, making Claire tripped helplessly.
“Got you!”
Convinced of her victory, Diabell tried to aim her sword toward Claire’s neck. However, something suddenly coiled around her dominant arm, momentarily breaking her posture. Diabell was surprised as the tip of Claire’s sword seems to pointing at her eye.
“With this it’s over.”
“…to think you would use your tail. It’s totally my defeat for not taking the trait of the beastman into consideration.”
When i approach the two who’s breathing roughly, I checked whether they have any injuries. Both of them seems to be okay. Diabell holds out her arm to the retreating Claire. Although she hesitated for a moment, she shook Diabell’s hand while smiling wryly.
“Its my complete defeat. A promise is a promise. I will entrust the care of my Lord to Claire in the future.”
“If there’s magic, I might have been the one defeated.”
That’s good. There’s the saying that ‘the ground gets stronger after raining’, so I guess everything becomes better now? I think that this is only a one time thing.
[T.N: Not good at proverb. “雨降って地固まる”. Something about being able to get a good result because of facing some trouble.]
“Although the duty as the attendant is entrusted to Claire, our match as a woman had just begun. Let’s have a match about who’s going to conceive my Lord’s child first.”
“Eeh!? What are you saying!? Master and I are not in such a relationship…”
Diabell suddenly blurt out such an unexpected thing without even thinking about me. Claire is blushing red right now. Ah, she averted her gaze as soon as she saw me. Yeah. I kind of understood what you’re thinking right now even if you didn’t face me. Ouch! Don’t throw stone at me, Amyl! For now, my aim is to decide what to do with these two. Anyway, it’s good that the unity between our companions had increased. Shall we resume our exploration?