Chapter 27
Aria is a trap heroine.
That’s the consensus among gamers who’ve played <Chronicles of the Sacred Sword Hero>.
『Aria: Hero! So you’re the one…! It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long. I hope we get along!』
『Mave: What’s with this country bumpkin?』
『Morgan: Get out of my workshop.』
Aria greets you more warmly than any other heroine in the brutally difficult early game. Players battered by the other heroines’ insults develop a strong affection for her.
But it’s a trap.
Under the pretext of her ‘duty as a saintess,’ Aria barely appears on the first-year affection list. Neglect your stats while worrying about her affection, and you’ll find yourself facing an enormously enhanced Hero’s examination on Aria’s route.
Players are horrified by its vicious difficulty.
‘Every other route… even Lydia’s route… treats the Hero’s examination as just another event you breeze through.’
The enhanced Hero’s examination is practically impossible to clear on your first playthrough without save-scumming. The moment you muddle your way through the event, you’re sent straight to Aria’s NTR route.
Players are baffled.
-Is this game always this hard?
-Waste even a single day and it’s NTR or game over…
But then they look at players who took the other heroines’ routes and realize…
-I got Mave to be my girlfriend after just a few spars.
-The red-haired shut-in is ridiculously easy lololol
『Mave: Haha, I misunderstood you at first. …I’m sorry. Let’s meet again tomorrow. I want to keep getting stronger with you.』
『Morgan: C-come by again tomorrow. You’re the first person who’s ever given me a gift like this.』
In the game, Aria was a trap heroine.
It was absurdly difficult,
and its NTR ending was the most unpleasant of all.
‘Of course, maybe to make it up to the players, it had the most steamy scenes and pure-love events.’
Anyway, as a gamer…
Aria’s route was a truly difficult one.
Difficult enough that it wasn’t recommended for first-timers.
But.
Arti now loved Aria.
He had chosen this terrifying path in reality. In this one and only reality, where he couldn’t start over, he had chosen the most difficult path.
He couldn’t help but choose it.
The moment he saw her smile.
He couldn’t help being drawn to her.
-Hero!
-Saintess…!
For Arti,
that smile was not a trap, but salvation.
Lydia respected Arti’s resolve.
And made up her own mind.
“….”
‘…In that case.’
I’ll help you.
So you can overcome even the trials you don’t know about.
I’ll watch over your efforts.
In this world, I alone will recognize all your hard work.
That was the responsibility of the one who had led him.
‘I won’t let you regret following me.’
So,
prove yourself now.
“….”
Lydia murmured from the stands.
“…Do your best. You can do it.”
“….”
Morgan heard Lydia and tilted her head. In her estimation, it was nearly impossible for Arti to overcome that test.
‘That loser can beat them?’
Mave sat beside her in silence. The noise of the cheering crowd didn’t shake her composure. But her fists were trembling, little by little.
“….”
‘Could I hold out there?’
Mave’s gaze was fixed on one place.
-Waaaaah—!
Where the crowd’s cheers were directed.
Ten holy knights had drawn their swords on the broad sandy floor of the training ground. Their brilliant helmets and armor glittered in the noonday sun.
The Prayer Priest’s voice rang out.
-Holy Knights, prepare for the test. From this moment on, you will test the Hero candidate for ten minutes—!
“!”
They spread out in a wide circle, surrounding one person.
Clack—!
It was a wide space, dozens of meters across.
But though only ten knights had entered, they were impossible to ignore. Mana poured from their bodies, rippling like the midday heat haze and exuding an oppressive presence.
Their momentum was like a furnace heated by the sun.
The spectators clenched their fists.
“So these are the Sun Knights…! They’ve learned the Theocracy’s mana technique, which strengthens their mana even further beneath the sun!”
“Those ten look like they’re all under Inquisitor Raul’s direct command. Their presence is fierce.”
“An Inquisitor who’s reached the Ignition stage, and the ten elite swordsmen under his command… That unit must be stronger than most high-ranking noble houses. It would take an elite royal force led by a Sword Master to stand against them.”
“Can he even hold out?”
In the middle of the training ground,
Arti was surrounded by them.
“….”
By ordinary standards, being surrounded by three opponents of equal skill meant certain defeat. But he was surrounded by no fewer than ten.
The test itself was already a hopeless situation.
“….”
Even so.
Arti stood there calmly.
He wore only leather protective gear and cloth armor. His gauntleted hands held a shield and an iron sword. Compared to the holy knights around him in their gleaming armor, he looked shabby.
But he did not waver. He looked at the girl sitting in an ornate chair far away, guarded by the Inquisitor.
‘Aria….’
Aria was looking this way.
Her silver hair swayed conspicuously in the wind.
Her beauty reached him even across the distance.
The two gazed at each other from afar.
“….”
“….”
Arti lamented inwardly.
Damn it.
She’s too far away. I can’t see Aria’s expression.
‘That Inquisitor’s armor is so shiny I can’t see her.’
Was Aria worried that the wielder of the Sacred Sword might get hurt before he ever went to a real battlefield? Or was she anxious that he might not be recognized as a true Hero…?
“….”
He didn’t know.
‘What I really want to prove today isn’t that I’m a Hero….’
At that moment.
The Prayer Priest’s second proclamation rang out.
-Today’s test is not meant to take one another’s lives, but solely to verify the candidate’s qualifications! Therefore, I shall have everyone on the training ground swear a solemn oath beneath the gaze of the Sun God!
At the same time as his declaration,
the white emblem of the Sun God faintly glimmered on the left wrists of the holy knights and Arti. The terms of the oath decreed by the Prayer Priest were inscribed upon them.
One.
Only subdue one another; attacks intended to take a life are forbidden. However, the boy may strike the holy knights’ helmets.
Two.
The holy knights are forbidden to move from the moment they consider themselves subdued. The same applies if their helmets are struck.
Three.
This test will last ten minutes and will end if all the holy knights are defeated or the boy’s will is broken.
Four.
If the boy is still standing after ten minutes….
“…then that will count as the Hero candidate passing the first test.”
The Prayer Priest declared solemnly.
“Then begin the test now—!”
“!”
“!”
“!”
At those words,
the holy knights charged at Arti all at once.
Thud, thud, thud—!
The pressure was like ten chariots charging at him.
“…!”
Arti shuddered.
It was time to prove himself.
He drew mana from his second heart and lowered his stance. Then he searched for an opening in the circular formation charging at him all at once.
There were still several dozen meters between them, leaving him room to break through.
‘First… head toward the most threatening direction!’
He recalled the calm princess’s voice in his mind.
「Don’t be swept up by the enemies’ bluster. The place that looks most threatening is where the opening is hidden.」
“…!”
Arti shot forward like an arrow, moving so fast that he left afterimages. His muscles twisted from the reckless movement, but the Sacred Sword’s accelerated healing helped him recover.
Taah—!
Blue mana shimmered around Arti’s body.
Like a blue arrow,
he charged with his iron sword and shield leading the way.
“Hah—!”
“!”
“!”
The two holy knights at the front faltered.
‘…He’s charging at us instead.’
The boy they’d expected to flee like a rabbit was charging straight at them. The other holy knights, who’d been about to form a line to drive him toward the others, faltered as well.
“What….”
Charging forward while surrounded?
His courage was admirable,
but he had chosen the worst possible move.
‘Foolish boy. Isn’t it only natural for the strongest to be at the front, driving the prey toward the rest of us…?’
Skrrt—!
Their feet stopped.
Sand kicked up beneath the weight of their heavy armor.
“Hup!”
The two holy knights each took up a stance.
They braced for the boy’s charge. To their eyes, trained for years in the Flow stage, the Hero candidate’s attack posture was full of openings.
It looked as though the test would be over sooner than expected.
The spectators thought so, too.
-Has he given up…?
With his shield covering his right hand, Arti swung his sword down from above at the two holy knights. It was less a sword technique than an instinctive motion made as he charged.
“Hah!”
Whoosh—
The holy knights scoffed.
“Ha, does he think we’re fools?”
“With such an ordinary downward slash…!”
But.
The sword slipped from Arti’s hand.
Arti had simply thrown it.
The ordinary longsword spun through the air.
Whoooosh—!
The holy knights couldn’t take their eyes off the shabby iron sword flying toward them. Even more so because the spinning sword glinted in the sunlight.
“What…?!”
“W-what?!”
Their minds froze at the foolish act of throwing away his only weapon in battle. The thrown sword couldn’t hurt them through their helmets anyway, so that wasn’t what stunned them.
Their years of real combat only deepened their bewilderment.
‘W-what the…?!’
They suddenly remembered.
‘…Wait, that guy’s a Hero candidate.’
The Hero Arien could freely store his Sacred Sword in the sigil on his right hand. They said it was incredibly quick, unlike any other artifact.
The Holy Theocracy had said the Sacred Sword being tested this time ‘did not belong to the Hero Arien.’ So they hadn’t thought of Arien’s Sacred Sword.
But….
‘What if that guy’s Sacred Sword works like Hero Arien’s…?’
“No way…!”
“?!”
The holy knights looked at Arti’s right hand.
But it was already too late.
Arti was holding a blue sword that had appeared in his right hand behind his shield. He closed in in an instant, aiming for the helmets of the two holy knights who’d looked away.
Before they could move,
two crisp metallic clangs rang out.
Clang, clang—!
The spectators remembered the rule at that moment.
“!”
Two.
The holy knights are forbidden to move from the moment they consider themselves subdued. The same applies if their helmets are struck.
And the two holy knights truly couldn’t move. The Sun God’s oath inscribed on their left wrists glowed. The oath had forcibly stopped them.
When they realized what had happened,
they couldn’t help but let out an exhilarated cheer.
“Waaaaah—!”