chapter 39

The villages nearby hadn’t been destroyed yet.

Not understanding what this meant, we were confused.

The man who commissioned us did say that his village was destroyed by an oni…

That’s what the guys in the village we were just at said too.

But this girl didn’t seem like she’d be one to lie.

Thinking for a moment, the oni spoke.

“Wanna tell me about what the commissioner said?”

“Okay.”

Come to think of it, I didn’t hear about the characteristics of the oni in question…

But he said there were no other onis other than this guy.

“So, what was the name of his village?”

…Uri, I’m pretty sure.

“Uri Village.”

“…unfortunately, no such village exists nearby.”

Uri doesn’t exist?

Huh…?

“…What do you mean?”

“We were tricked.”

I took notice of what Eim said.

Surely, if an oni did cause a rampage, the Knights would be contacted, and Veig and the rest would inform us.

But we hadn’t received contact…

“Apologies.”

I let my guard down and bowed down to the oni.

Following me, Meryl and Eim bowed too.

Upon seeing this, the oni was shocked.

He must have thought we wouldn’t apologize.

“I-it’s alright! We were mistaken, just like you! And since you guys were fooled, it can’t be helped!”

We told Meld-sama that we’d start taking commissions, and here we are…!

We’d been led on on our first commission…

“I’m the guild’s leader, and I want to solve this situation. I’ll do anything I can.”

I said that Meryl and Eim were innocent, and the oni and the young girl looked at each other.

The oni grinned.

“Alright. Let’s continue the fight from earlier!”

“Eh?” I replied.

“Fighting with you… got me heated up! I want to settle this with you!”

A fight not with the objective of defeating the other, but of winning…

The oni looked right at me, and thrust his right fist ahead.

I had no intent or reason to refuse.

If I had to say, I wanted to settle things with him, too.

I thrust out my right fist, and our fists collided.

“Alright. But I won’t hold back!”

“Of course! I’ll give it my all, too!”

After connecting our fists, we both retreated, keeping our distance from each other.

The young girl smiled and laughed at the scene, while Meryl panicked.

“What are they doing!?”

Eim explained to a confused Meryl.

“This is evidence of camaraderie between brothers. Isn’t that right, Master?”

“Ah, this is a fight—no, a discussion—with this guy. Not with words, but with fists.”

As I showed my fists to Meryl and Eim, the oni laughed.

“So you get it. But my name isn’t ‘this guy.’ My name is Magius. Magius Zelth!”

“Then, once again, my name is Asou Aruto. A classless adventurer, and the guild leader of Possible Star!”

After we introduced ourselves, I thrust Enzetta into the ground, and readied my fists.

I didn’t need Enzetta to fight against Magius!

“Alright, let’s go… Magius!”

“Alright, Aruto!”

Magius and I dashed forward at the same time.

With my fist covered in flames and Magius’ fist covered in red lightning, we punched forward.

The collision of punches created a blast that leveled trees in the area.

Eim, who was covering Meryl and the girl, also bore the brunt of it.

After the flurry of punches, we rushed each other with kicks.

However, the force caused us to fall backward.

“Electrogun!”

Magius made a finger gun and shot lightning bullets from it. I used Barrier to block them.

In return, I shot a fireball at Magius.

However, Magius blocked the fireball, and it dissipated.

“You can block fireballs that easily!?”

“I can use Barrier too!”

Acknowledging his true strength, I started to form a stormcloud above his head.

“Electroshoot!”

Not noticing this, Magius covered his right arm in red lightning and formed a ball of lightning, shooting it towards me.

To counter it, I thrust my right fist forward, creating a large stone ball that collided with it.

“Rock Blast!”

Through the experiences I have gained from my many battles, and by applying the skills I knew, I could create new skills of my own.

The ball of red lightning and the stone sphere collided, and they both dissipated.

Around this time, the stormcloud had finished forming.

“Thunder Bolt!”

A massive bolt of lightning struck Magius.

It hit him directly, and an explosion happened.

Normally, this would defeat him, or so I thought…

My focus didn’t waver…

When the smoke cleared, I could see Magius, sparks flying from his body.

His clothes were dirtied, but he was otherwise unharmed…

“‘Electrodrain’… I absorbed your lightning attack. It was pretty powerful, but using lightning attacks, my specialty, against me, is useless.”

Using my attack, Magius charged up electric energy.

“Electroblaster!”

Magius sent out a ray of red lightning.

The force of the blast alone seemed enough to blow me away.

“Nice one, Magius! But I won’t lose!”

Accumulating light energy, I used Photon Beam and shot out a beam of light.

As the beam of red lightning and the beam of light met, Magius and I were both blown away by the impact.

Both of us, somehow still standing, got into a fistfight.

We threw punches, defended, and threw punches again.

At a glance, this seemed like a quarrel one would overlook, but Magius and I were smiling madly.

It was as if we were playing sports with a good rival…

As the battle raged, a few minutes after, we took heavy breaths.

Both of us, beaten up, seemed like we were about to collapse.

…But I wouldn’t give up!

Catching our breath, we both readied our fists.

“This…!”

“Will end it!”

We both dashed forward at the same time, our fists connecting to each others’ cheeks.

A cross counter…

The force was so great that our brains rattled, and we both collapsed.

“Hah… hah… could this be… a draw?”

“Hah, haaaaaah… I can’t move anymore…”

A draw…

The result wasn’t all too impressive, but we couldn’t contain our laughter.

Seeing us, the girl, Elle, and the rest giggled.

After a while, when we could finally move, we got up.

“That was fun, Aruto. There’ll be a verdict next time.”

“I hope so too, Magius. Anyway, shouldn’t the girl hurry back to her village?”

“That’s right. Elle, your mother, will get worried. Let’s hurry back.”

Hearing what Magius said, Elle nodded indecisively.

Seeing her safe, Magius grinned and pated Elle on the head.

“Don’t worry. I messed up, too!”

Seeing Elle and Magius banter, Eim looked down.

…She was probably thinking of Fifteen.

Just like Magius, I patted Eim’s head, and she smiled.

“Aruto, you guys should follow me. You saved Elle’s life, after all.”

Nodding, we set off, accompanied by Magius and Elle…