Story of a Cannon Fodder who Firmly Believed He was the Protagonist, Misunderstood the Actual Protagonist as the Cannon Fodder, and Ended up Victorious
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: tamago
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 031 – Causality Brought Forth [B]
With his twisted belief, Kakukaku tried to convince Fay to give up, reasoning that those without talent should leave this path.
Many gave up after listening to him. When that happened he felt guilty, yet also relieved, thinking they could live quietly for longer.
But it seemed he wouldn’t be able to feel that so easily this time.
“Unfortunately, I will keep fighting until I die. Rather than admiring flowers, I believe that being involved in combat suits me more.”
“…Don’t you think throwing your life away into a ditch like that is nothing but folly?”
“In that case, I will drink the ditch water and continue fighting. The only time I lay down my blade will be the moment I die.”
“…”
Kakukaku was suddenly reminded of his eldest brother, even though this man hardly resembled his eldest brother at all. Kakukaku was filled with the thought that if only he had stopped his brother from following this path, perhaps he wouldn’t have died, would have continued to live in happiness.
A raging wind struck Fay, sending him flying back against the wall.
“This is the difference in talent. You should let go of your blade now, for your own sake as well.”
“…I refuse.”
Fay got up from the wall, blood dripping from his body as smoke danced around him. The dust smoke danced as he did. Blood dripped from his mouth, feet, and shoulder.1
He didn’t care about the wounds caused by the blade of winds. He ignored his wound and set his gaze on Kakukaku instead.
He kicked the ground.
Fay swung his katana as bullets of wind magic rushed at him like rain. He didn’t attempt to avoid it, and instead continued to advance despite the damage.
“Th-that’s…”
“What’s wrong, Ese?”
“It’s the tactic of allowing his flesh to be cut order to crush the enemy’s bones… it’s a method only Fay would use, his specialty… damage exchange… but…”
Ese anxiously opened his thin eyes and spoke seriously. Fay’s katana didn’t reach Kakukaku. A wide stroke of wind flew up from the ground, blowing Fay away amidst a large cloud of dust.
There was a dull sound. Everyone who witnessed it expected that Fay would end up with broken bones.
“This should make you understand. This is… the difference in talent. You ought to stay a protected person instead.”
“…”
Fay stood up and covered his body with art again.
“I told you, that unmasterful action—“
“—I see.”
“Eh?”
“I already had the answer… no, it was a mistake to try to make myself look good to begin with. Deciding to choose a risk-free choice is actually the riskiest choice… I see. I see, I see. The answer didn’t lie elsewhere, but was within me all along.”
“Oi, listen.”
“I was trying to ask others about it. I see now… that thought was a mistake to begin with.”
Fay didn’t listen to people’s words at all. It was clear that he came to a conclusion on his own. However, his eyes showed that he seemed to have realized a way to achieve victory.
He rushed straight at Kakukaku. The bullets of wind flew at Fay once again. And Fay again plunged toward Kakukaku without minding those bullets.
Isn’t he doing the same thing as before?
“Fay, don’t you understand from what happened earlier that what you’re doing is useless?”
Both Kakukaku and Kamase thought that the last exchange would merely repeat itself. However, Ese on the other hand had a grin on his face.
“No, it’ll be different.”
“Eh? You- you can tell what’s different?”
“No, I can’t really tell. However, I believe that Fay will make it happen.”
“Eh?”
Fay rushed through the flurry of wind until Kakukaku was within his attack range. And once again, the wind blew upward from the ground, leaving no room for escape from its wide range. But unlike the last time, Fay jumped up with the dust smoke this time.
Then from above he landed a slight distance away from the fluttering dust clouds.
But the moment Fay descended, Kakukaku felt a chilling feeling of defeat. The moment he thought that, the smoke shifted, and something rushed to his right side. Kakukaku turned his hand and attention in that direction, immediately casting wind magic and blowing whatever it was away. Since it was a quick attack based on reflex, it didn’t encompass a wide range.
He should have felt a sense of relief since that attack should have been enough to blow Fay away, but the previous feelings didn’t go away.
Then what he saw made him doubt his eyes. Because what he saw there—
—was a katana wrapped in a red muffler. The muffler created lots of dust clouds as it moved like parachute film.
Fay wasn’t there. In fact, Kakukaku realized that the katana had been tied to the muffler and thrown away.
The dust moved again, and Kakukaku caught the movement at the edge of his vision, realizing that was where the real attack would come from. Then he calmed down. Even though he had been caught by surprise…
There’s still a difference in physical ability. I can just guard against the incoming attack, or counter using wind mag—
The moment he thought of that, Fay appeared in front of him, about to swing his fist.
Wha—he’s way too fast, how?
Kakukaku wouldn’t be able to defend against it. The speed Fay moved at was a lot faster than before. Kakukaku didn’t know what kind of tricks Fay used to achieve that.
Right before Fay’s fist connected, Kakukaku saw that.
Fay’s right leg was swollen red and black, suffering from an injury much more severe than one could bear to see.
This guy—did he pour all his art into his right leg?!
Normally a person like Fay who lacked a sufficient amount of art within them and was unable to use art well wouldn’t be able to reinforce their body properly. Since they had a lesser amount of art, the reinforcement produced would be weaker. However, if one piled up too much reinforcement on their body, it wouldn’t be able to endure the sudden body change.
If one made a mistake during the art operation, even if they gained a momentary boost in power, their body would suffer irreversible damage. That was why one needed to carefully control the amount of art they used.
Normal people wouldn’t want to be injured. They would use a proper and stable art operation to safely strengthen their body while fighting.
However, Fay was different.
His operation was unskillful and he couldn’t use it in a proper way. Since it couldn’t get any worse, he changed his mind and decided to make use of an improper way instead.
He concentrated his art only on his leg. As a result, his movement was vastly different from the previous time, with the cost of serious damage to his leg.
And this time, he concentrated his art on his right arm. Blood spilled out his blood vessels, his bones creaked and broke down. The amount of pain only rose.
What of it? This is my full power. Eat this, event in front of me!
Fay unleashed a ferocious laugh. Kakukaku couldn’t respond anymore, and memories started to show themselves in his mind one after another, like a revolving lantern.
Nii-san… I—
Fay’s fist slammed down on Kakukaku’s solar plexus.
…So I was mistaken. People who desire it enough can actually become this strong. I had already labeled them weak in my mind, but…
…I see… Nii-san, despite only having non-elemental affinities, wasn’t actually weak. He was a nii-san I could be proud of.
“—Ngh.”
Fay’s hand twisted slightly the moment it connected with Kakukaku’s solar plexus. The punch sent Kakukaku flying a few meters away, smashing his back against the outer wall and knocking him unconscious. Even though he had been defeated, he seemed to smile in satisfaction. 2
“Haa, haa…”
Fay’s breathing was rough. He hobbled towards Kakukaku like a zombie, dragging his hardly functioning leg along. It seemed that Fay hadn’t realized that the fight was already over.
He pushed past his limits, moving his body solely through the tenacity of his soul.
His wounds appeared so painful that the paladins around him could hardly bear to see him. Gentle arms wrapped Fay as he continued.
“It’s over… It’s your victory… so you can rest now.”
“—I… see…”
Arthur embraced the heavily wounded Fay. He fell into a deep slumber immediately
“He won…”
Someone muttered. Everyone who had witnessed it doubted their eyes—Fay had won, even though his body was battered with wounds. Kamase asked Ese what had happened in surprise. Ese put his hand on his chin and started to analyze.
“How did Fay manage to land that blow… even my great mind isn’t able to understand.”
“This is just my own speculation, but it’s simple. When the dust rose, he wrapped his muffler around his katana and threw it as a decoy, making it seem like his first attack. If he hadn’t done that, Fay wouldn’t be able to move close enough to Kakukaku, even with his new reinforcement method. That’s probably what ran through Fay’s mind. By using a muffler as a decoy in addition to heavily reinforced legs, he managed to land that hit.”
“If Kakukaku hadn’t used any magic that caused so many dust clouds to begin with…”
“Well, then Fay’s method wouldn’t work. But that paladin-san intended to convince Fay to give up rather than defeating him, so perhaps he intended to blow Fay away to the outer wall multiple times, and so the dust was disturbed as a consequence.”
“I-I see.”
“If one strengthened their leg and arm forcefully like Fay did, it could actually land an effective attack against a stronger opponent. I doubt anyone else would try anything of the sort, though.”
Ese completely became a commentator. Then he remembered Fay’s right arm from earlier and decided to think of a name for the technique.
“That’s right, as for that right arm attack… Let’s name it Strong Right (Blood Rodeo)…”3
“Fay Punch.”
“Eh?”
“We’ll call it the Fay Punch.”
“Ah, no, but—”
“Fay Punch.”
“Ah, okay.”
Arthur said that as she lifted Fay onto her back4. As soon as she finished, she ran to the medical room. Arthur’s words were spread among surrounding paladins.
“The Snake Attack, and Fay Punch, she said…?!”
“Fay Punch?!”
“I see, so it’s called Fay Punch and Snake Attack, huh.”
“Fay Punch, huh… Hmm, interesting.”
“Fay Punch, that’s a double-edged sword.”
Seeing that, Kamase hunched his shoulders and sighed. The names he had been quite confident in was so easily overpowered by the name Arthur had given the techniques.
“Well… I also preferred the names Kogetsu and Blood Rodeo, you know.”
Ese tapped Kamase’s shoulder to comfort him.
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Fay punch lol
Press f for Arthur naming sense
Thanks for update this chapter
f
well, don’t blame her. she hardly social person after all
F
Well at least MC’s name will get well known
So domineering! Her assertiveness on how it has to be Fay punch, that is, not the name itself. I wonder how it’ll be if Fay finally snaps with all of Arthur’s shenanigans.
even if he snap, fay still weaker than arthur so nothing change since arthur did things without caring of fay opinion anyway