Volume 2, Chapter 5

Following onee-sama’s battle, it was announced to be team battles… Because of when we signed up, I am on the same team as onee-sama. It seems that unless we pay a large sum of gold, we will not be able to disband this team. Nor can we join into another team. It wasn’t me that suggested this, but actually onee-sama. She can be practical sometimes, it seems.

“UNKNOWN CHALLENGERS TEAM VS. POWER!”

Oh… the first team fight is us. That means onee-sama won’t have had as much rest as some of the other fighters but I think she can handle it. It is onee-sama after all, right?

As I think so, a voice seems to come towards me.

“For this match, you’ve been forbidden from using your slave. A sponsor has taken an interest in you. Fight well.”

Uhh, what? Sponsors… individuals who fund the arena in order to recruit talent, I think? That’s how onee-sama explained them earlier. Why would a sponsor ever have taken an interest in me? I’m practically useless. Also, this is awful. I need Yuuki as I am unable to fight on my own… I think? I mean, onee-sama may be able to fight a 2v1 battle, however she would also have to defend me… which means she won’t be particularly happy with me, will she?

Well, anyway. I’d better walk up to the stage now, else onee-sama will begin to criticise me. Well, she hasn’t started moving either, however, I am fairly sure that’s because she was waiting for me.

She starts walking by my side as soon as I begin to move. Then she begins to whisper,

“…just try and keep out of the fight. I’ll try and finish the battle quickly. If you see anything out of the ordinary, try and tell me. Though, I don’t think anything will happen.”

Onee-sama seems to have guessed what was going on in my mind… but the ending of that seems to be odd? Why would onee-sama ever care about if I saw something out of the ordinary…? Unless, she’s talking about my ability to read intent.

Ah, that’s it.

She’s telling me that if I can sense that they intend to feint and it she can’t see it, I should tell her. However, she doesn’t believe it to be the case, does she? This is onee-sama, after all. She’s quite the fighter, so it is pretty unlikely that I’ll need to help her.

No, all I will need to do is help myself. If I can avoid making any trouble for her, then I’ll be pretty happy. Because then she won’t have too many reasons to be mad at me, right? That’s what I’m hoping. It is pretty unlikely for anything to go my way… the goddess will make sure of that, won’t you?!

…

Huh, I was kind of expecting a reply just then. The fact she isn’t replying to me, it feels wrong. Really wrong. I wonder what’s up… No! Right now, that’s not the kind of thing I should be focusing on!

The battles about to start and here I am, thinking about things that are not important at this current moment. I am going to work on this, I swear! One day, I will manage to pay all my attention to the matter at hand, rather than diverging onto these tangents. I can’t even understand why I do it. I guess I could consider it as an escapist sort of thing. Yeah, that’s what I’ll blame it on. An escapist mindset caused by the goddess.

I did it again, didn’t I?

“BATTLE START!”

Oh, that is not good. We’ve been standing here for a while, and while the battle did not start, I was not paying attention.

The two opposite onee-sama and myself are pretty muscly men. In fact, I think they are too muscly. If you think of musclemen in uhh, magazines, it’s sort of like them? How though they look strong, they do not look attractive. That’s exactly the thought I am having about these guys.

Though, is it offensive to think that? As long as I do not voice it aloud, surely that is fine? Uh, whatever.

Woops. Because I was busy thinking such things, one of the men came towards me with his fist prepared to hit me. Well, he’s quick, however onee-sama managed to hit him while also drawing the attack from the other man. Onee-sama is such an impressive fighter… I will never match up to her, but perhaps I can at least learn from her talent.

I’ll name these two men Block and Rock, as that’s what the remind me of. Block has skin that’s got a red tinge whereas Rock has skin that’s got a grey tinge. Besides the colour of their skin, Block and Rock are practically identical. The one who had originally attacked me was Block, however, onee-sama pissed him off with her attack, meaning he changed targets.

With this, I decided to try and run out of the battle, but as soon as I did, I could feel it. Rock changed his intention of attacking onee-sama with both of them, rather, he would try and attack me. Argh, what the heck. I don’t want to have to run around this entire time, but that’s exactly what’s going to happen, isn’t it? I’m not even sure if I can manage that. My disease will begin to be a problem if I am too active. That, I am fairly sure of.

Rock comes at me quickly, but this time I can’t sense what he’s intending to do. It’s as though he knows that my only talent is in reading intent… if he can simply avoid thinking, he can avoid me predicting his next move. In other words, I am screwed.

Although I’m currently occupied with keeping away from Rock, on the other side of the stage is onee-sama fighting one on one with Block. If it wasn’t for the fact that I cannot do anything but run away from Rock, I would probably be more invested in paying attention to their battle.

Unfortunately, such a thing is not the case. Rock has decided that the most efficient method of ending this battle is to target me, rather than both of them targeting onee-sama at the same time. How exactly am I meant to deal with this without Yuuki? After all, she has been my main attacking force since I bought her. That reminds me of the time that I learnt about her situation

No, this is not the time to lose focus. I can think about that later.

Alright, alright. If Rock is after me, that means that onee-sama’s opponent, Block, has his work cut out for him. In a one-on-one situation, onee-sama can handle anything. So, let’s utilise this.

From my memories, although I used to rely on magic a lot, there was still some strategy required… it’s just, I was never the one to be thinking of them. It was as though I was playing a videogame with all the hard strategy work done for me. All I had to do was be one of the front-line fighters.

However, I can still use this. I might not be as smart as the strategists from the other world, but I can utilise what I remember they did.

The first point: I am too weak to fight. This is something that I cannot refute.
The second point: Rock and Block have one forte. That would be the incredible strength they possess.
The third point: Drawing this battle out for too long will mean that they win. I cannot maintain this level of consciousness after a certain amount of time has been exceeded. In fact, I think that I am soon to be nearing my limit.
The last point: Sometimes, a battle of wits is not only in battle strategy, but in words. I learned this from a politician who managed to defeat a demon king of an old world. Rather than using me to kill the demon king, I was simply a bodyguard. The politician pointed out the flaws in the demon king’s reign and plan for the future. The demon king ended up submitting because of how much he had done wrong, and how his plan would fail. Well, it’s convenient that I can remember this, but how I wish that I could remember that politician’s name!

Okay, so I cannot fight. Their strength is definitely against my weakness. It’s hard enough for me to run at a speed fast enough to keep away from Rock, trying to physically injure him would be the same as forfeiting. But I need to end the battle soon, or else they will win anyway by exhausting me.

Alright, let’s do it!

“Hmm… aren’t you just dying to beat me, Rock? Is it fine if I call you that? It’s what you remind me of, a rock. You know, because while they are strong, they don’t think at all?”

At my taunt, Rock gives a bemused face. After a few seconds, it disappears and a grin appears on his face.

“You think I can’t tell what you’re trying to do, little runt? It’s not going to work!”

Uhhh, what am I trying to do? Other than rile him up a little?

“? What do you mean? My partner simply told me that while you were strong, you would never find a wife. Your face looks as though it was the trunk of a tree!”

“DIE, BASTARD! YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE MANAGED TO SURVIVE SO LONG IF I WASN’T GOING EASY ON YOU? YOU’RE SO SLOW! WITHOUT YOUR SLAVE, YOU ARE USELESS!”

“…”

That hurts. He is exactly right. And, well, it seems he’s sped up a lot. I’m not going to be able to stop him. My hope was, that he would attack onee-sama if I claimed that she was the one that was insulting him. It seems I was wrong. I guess, it was stupid of me to think that I could match up with those geniuses who strategized in other worlds. Just piecing together things in my mind won’t make up for the fact that I’m weak.

Realising my stupidity, Rock caught up with me and managed to knock me down. He raises his fist, about to slam it down into my face. In a few seconds, I think I will either be dead, or severely injured. I probably deserve it.

I close my eyes, accepting the inevitable.

SLAMMMM!

Huh? If he didn’t hit me, then that means…

I open my eyes.

“Onee-sama?”

In front of me is onee-sama, blocking the attack from Rock for me. I wish I could be appreciative of this but I can see it. The pain she is in, the blood on her hands, and I think I can see a little bit of bone sticking out of her arm.

No, no, no! This can’t be happening?!? Onee-sama can’t be injured! How can it be?

Onee-sama looks towards me, a glint in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. As though… she was relieved? It feels like an eternity passes, before she falls onto the ground, leaving me glaring at Rock.

Behind him, I can see that Block has been knocked out but…

We’ve lost this round. With onee-sama out of the count, I can’t fight back. With this, it’s better if I surrender. But Rock has other plans, he charges towards me now that onee-sama has been taken out of the equation. And the pressure is stopping me from speaking any words with my mouth.

No, I can’t be overwhelmed by the pressure. I need to surrender, so I can take care of onee-sama. Otherwise, I think, this entire fight will have been worthless. No, I can’t afford to leave onee-sama without me to watch over her. She protected me! STOP. WITH. THIS. PRESSURE.

“I, I, I..su-surren,der.”

I managed to stutter it out.

“Unknown Challenger Team Surrenders! POWER WINS!”

Now, I’ve got to take care of onee-sama.

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