Chapter 10
Elena's house was located on the outskirts of the city, near the city walls.
It was a place no different from a slum.
Past an alley where shabby buildings huddled together between clothes hanging from laundry lines, I came upon a familiar sight.
'Here it is.'
It was exactly the place I'd seen in the original.
She had said that after her father, a hunter, died, she sold their house and moved here.
'She lives in a place like this?'
Even without comparing it to life on Earth, this was a harsh place for people to live.
I stopped in front of an old wooden door that looked as though it would break if I gave it a light tap.
But the door creaked open.
It wasn't locked.
'Am I a little late?'
I kicked the door open.
Inside the narrow room.
A man was on top of the bed.
Beneath him, a woman's legs were weakly flailing.
"W-who are you?!"
"It's me, asshole."
I grabbed the intruder by the nape and yanked him backward, throwing him into the corner of the room.
After I pulled the intruder off her, I found a woman with flushed cheeks, panting for breath. The girl, who resembled Elena but had gentler features, looked at me through hazy eyes.
"Sis...?"
"I'm not your sister. Rest easy now."
"Mm..."
I covered Ellis's shoulders with a blanket.
The intruder raised a club.
Just as he was about to bring it down on my head, I grabbed his arm, twisted it, and slammed him to the floor.
I felt the bones in his arm, bent sharply behind his back, shift out of alignment.
"Agh?!"
"Quiet."
I grabbed him by the nape and smashed his face into the floor.
Thud.
His nose struck the wooden floor with a dull sound.
I didn't stop there.
Thud!
I slammed the intruder's face into the floor until he stopped resisting.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Ghk... Ugh... Ah..."
Before long, his strength gave out and he went limp.
I grabbed him by the collar and met his eyes.
His face was a bloody mess.
The battered man flinched when he saw me.
"E-Eck..."
"Do you know who I am?"
"S-sorry. I won't ever come back here again...! P-please, just forgive me this once!"
"...."
I let out a long breath.
"Did Darko send you?"
"Y-yes."
"Didn't you hear anything else?"
"Well..."
"...I guess you didn't get beaten enough."
"I-I'll talk... Ghk?!"
I punched the intruder in the face.
He flinched. Then flinched again and again.
"D-Darko... wanted to secretly screw his disciple... so..."
"Tch. Of course, it's an adult game."
Had that bastard Darko planned to film something shady and send it to me?
I threw the intruder out of the house.
"Go tell your gang. If any of you lay a hand on Elena or her little sister, I'll wipe you all out first. Make sure you get that message right."
"Y-yes, sir!"
The thief staggered away into the back alley.
I turned my head.
Ellis was huddled in a corner by the wall, clutching her blanket. Her eyes were screwed shut, her head bowed, and her whole body was trembling.
The fever made it difficult for her even to remain conscious.
Elena's younger sister.
Ellis.
Ellis resembled Elena.
The same hair color, the same eye color.
She was thin and small, but that couldn't be helped at her age and with her illness. Once she recovered, she would grow into a beauty as lovely as her sister.
"Hmm..."
I looked around the house.
The house had been nothing more than background scenery in the original, but now I could glimpse Elena's living space.
There was a tray with water and medicine on the table.
The medicine was in powder form.
'Wasn't its effect mental deterioration?'
It was a drug that slowed the mind.
It was mainly used to subdue mages.
If Elena took the mage route, she'd be drugged with this and raped time and again.
It was especially vivid how she was captured by monsters with the same effect and kept giving birth to monsters until she developed resistance.
Anyway, Elena had been buying this medicine and giving it to her little sister.
'This won't cure her.'
Elena was doing little more than pouring water into a broken dam.
But even if it was only a stopgap, she would die before long if she didn't take it.
Ellis's illness was overblessing.
If she had been born into a noble family, she would have become a great mage whose name went down in history, but it was too much for a mere family of hunters to handle.
Without knowing what her symptoms were or why they occurred, it would have been no surprise if she had died long ago.
Fortunately, she had met a doctor who knew her symptoms, and her devoted sister had kept her alive. But honestly, Eck couldn't bring himself to call that good fortune.
'I want to make her better, but... if I help clumsily, I'll only weaken Elena's motivation.'
Elena had to become the hero who would save the world in the future.
***
Elena planted both feet on the ground.
She shifted each foot in turn to support her body.
Footwork.
Her body remembered the footwork she'd learned over the past three days as she imitated the movements Eck had shown her.
Darko's eyes widened.
By the time he realized it, her wooden sword was already inside his guard.
The wooden sword jabbed him in the solar plexus.
"Ghk...?!"
Darko's body was driven backward.
He swung his wooden sword in a counterattack at Elena, who had closed in.
But she deflected it with her wooden sword, stabbed him in the side with its tip, and backed away again.
Darko charged at Elena, carried forward by his momentum.
Elena deflected his sword strike.
She pressed her wooden sword against Darko's, guided it away at an angle, and twisted its trajectory.
She thrust the wooden sword into the opening revealed by the twist.
His neck.
The wooden sword struck Darko's neck dead-on.
"Kek...! You bitch...!"
Darko ground his teeth and brought his sword straight down. It was a blow backed by his full weight. Even a wooden sword would break if it connected.
The force radiating from a C-rank adventurer fighting seriously was intense and intimidating to face.
'It won't matter if it doesn't hit.'
Elena's body slid to the side.
As she shifted position with her footwork, Darko's wooden sword cut through empty air.
Elena's wooden sword swept through the air and struck his temple.
Thud.
"Guh!"
Darko wobbled, unable to keep his balance, and one knee buckled.
A murmur spread through the spectators.
They set down their glasses.
The laughter vanished, and their eyes widened.
"Hey, is that for real?"
"Darko's being pushed back?"
Elena had no idea what she was accomplishing.
She thrust her wooden sword at the man who had spoken her little sister's name, threatened to lay hands on Ellis, and claimed he already had.
Each time, Darko lost his balance and fell.
Just as Eck had taught her.
'Don't block. Land one strike.'
She dodged and deflected Darko's attacks and counterattacks, waiting for the moment an opening appeared so she could land one solid blow.
Elena's body had never felt hotter, and her head had never felt cooler.
Darko swung his wooden sword horizontally.
The instant she ducked beneath it, his knee slammed into Elena.
'Predictable.'
She knocked Darko's knee aside with her wooden sword.
He screamed.
Don't act like it hurts that much!
Elena's wooden sword struck the back of Darko's hand.
Crack!
The sword nearly slipped from Darko's hand. He managed to tighten his grip, but that too created an opening and allowed Elena to close in.
Thud!
"Fuck...!"
Cursing, Darko swung his wooden sword fiercely to force Elena back and create distance.
Darko was breathing heavily.
He could taste blood in his mouth.
The blow to his solar plexus had rattled his insides. He wanted to roll around on the floor right then, but he forcibly lowered his hand as if conscious of the spectators' eyes.
She was an I-rank.
How humiliating would it be to lose to a mere I-rank newbie?
Elena stepped into her footwork again.
Darko swung his wooden sword to keep her at bay.
"You fuck...!"
The wooden sword glanced past Elena. Even though Darko had put strength into the swing to keep it from slipping, the opening created when his balance collapsed allowed Elena to slip in.
His side.
Elena's wooden sword struck it dead-on.
"Guh...!"
Darko's upper body bent to the side.
His ribs throbbed.
He nearly dropped to one knee, but gritted his teeth and held on.
The spectators stirred.
"Isn't Darko losing?"
"Eck made her this good in three days?"
"No way. It was only three days!"
Those words reached Darko's ears as well.
His face reddened.
He couldn't surrender.
It would be a spectacular embarrassment if the guild's swordsmanship instructor lost to an I-rank rookie. Most of the spectators had bet on Darko.
If he lost here, his reputation would hit rock bottom.
Darko readjusted his grip on the wooden sword.
Elena took a step toward him.
'W-what do I do?'
Darko unconsciously stepped backward.
He couldn't think of any way to fight back.
"D-do you think your little sister is going to be safe? Is it okay if my men rape your little sister?! I'll fucking kill her...!"
Elena's foot stopped.
Blood vessels stood out in her eyes.
"Bring her here."
"What?"
Elena shouted through gritted teeth.
"Bring Ellis before me!!"
She kicked off the ground.
She was faster than before.
'You idiot!'
This was a fight where all he needed was to land one hit to win!
Certain of victory, Darko brought his wooden sword down at Elena, who was charging straight at him.
Elena's wooden sword met his head-on.
Crack.
Then the wooden sword broke.
"H-how..."
The broken sword was Darko's.
He saw it.
Elena's eyes were glowing blue.
Elena swung her wooden sword horizontally once more and struck Darko in the side.
Thwack!
Darko was struck by the wooden sword and sent flying, skidding across the ground toward the spectators.
When Darko failed to get up, the spectators fell silent for a moment.
Then they erupted in cheers.
"Hwaa!!!"
"Fuck!!!"
The spectators' reactions were sharply divided.
"Hah... Hah..."
Elena panted harshly.
The wooden sword in her hand trembled.
She let go of the wooden sword and approached Darko, who lay sprawled on the ground.
Darko coughed while lying facedown. He tried to rise while clutching his side, but the arm he braced against the ground buckled, and he collapsed again.
Elena grabbed him by the collar.
"Where is Ellis?"
Darko's face twisted.
But he didn't lose his smile.
"Khehe... So you were a genius too... Fuck... A bunch of genius bastards... Birds of a feather..."
"I said, where's my sister?!"
"Why? Are you worried about your little sister now?"
Darko snickered.
With no hope of counterattacking anymore, he started mouthing off.
"By now, my men must be having their way with your little sister. One of my men has a rough touch, you know? Go on living for the rest of your life taking care of your little sister's piss and shit. You genius bastard."
"Hng...!"
Elena raised her fist.
It slammed into Darko's face.
"Guhk...!"
"Where is she?!"
Elena mounted him and pummeled Darko's face.
But Darko's eyes went out of focus as he looked at her with contempt.
"Kill me... You'll never see her again."
"Ugh..."
Her fist clenched.
"Khehe."
Darko was quick to catch on.
This girl had a weakness: her little sister.
Whatever Eck had put into her head, as long as he kept her sister in his grasp, she would do anything he said.
Even with his face beaten into a bloody mess, Darko remained full of confidence.
"Apologize."
"A-apologize? Why should I...?"
"If you want your little sister to be safe, don't you think you should?"
"Ugh..."
Elena's body stiffened.
"No, a verbal apology alone won't satisfy me. Take off all your clothes."
"M-my clothes?"
"Are you embarrassed? So your pride matters more to you than your little sister."
"That's c-cowardly..."
Elena staggered backward and clutched at her clothes with trembling hands.
She had done as Uncle told her, but... she couldn't completely ignore his threat...! How could she ignore it...?!
'Ellis...'
It was then.
"Elena."
She heard someone's voice.
The moment she heard it, relief washed over her.
Elena's gaze, along with Darko's and all the spectators', turned toward it at once.
Eck was standing there.
Eck walked in through the gap the spectators opened for him.
"Uncle..."
"You really couldn't trust my word until the very end."
"I'm sorry... But..."
What was she supposed to do when the thought of her sister being in danger made her mind go blank?
Even if she killed Darko, what good would it do if she could no longer find her sister?
She screamed the words inwardly, but the hand placed on her head stopped them all.
"Ellis is safe."
"What? Really?"
"So you can rest now."
"Ellis..."
She still hadn't seen for herself that her sister was safe, but she could believe him. He had always been sincere.
The fire in Elena's eyes faded, and she lost consciousness and collapsed.