Fake Saint of the Year
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Kiro
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author Note:
It’ll be released tomorrow!
Chapter AF20 – Supple Ment’s Exploration②
Supple lifted his glasses with his fingertips as he suppressed the excitement that welled up from his heart.
An unexpected surprise occurred in the midst of investigating a past Saint.
This was a place that had been under the influence of demons until recently, and it was a place that no one had investigated yet.
In other words, this was the first dispatch of the knights, and there was no way anyone would have entered before that.
It was unknown when this place left humanity’s influence, but it was possible that ever since Saint Truffa was last sighted in this place, no other humans have ever entered.
In such a place, somebody had attacked them with magic.
“Somebody” in a place that should have nobody… there was no way Supple wouldn’t feel intrigued.
Why was that “somebody” in this place? Why did they attack them? He had no idea.
Such an unknown was both something frustrating and enjoyable for a researcher like Supple.
It felt really uncomfortable to realize he didn’t understand something. He wanted to dig out the truth no matter what.
After that, learning the thing that he didn’t know beforehand would bring unbearable pleasure.
“Well, well… magic is directed at us in a mansion that shouldn’t have anyone else in it. Moreover, they seem quite skilled at it. To think they are capable of manipulating this many plants at the same time. Wonderful.”
“Is this the time to be impressed?!”
Finley slashed the growing vines and yelled at Supple, who observed the situation with ease.
The knights formed a circle and intercepted the plants, but the opponents were the plants that had taken root throughout the mansion after all. No matter how much they cut them, there was no end to it.
On the contrary, this mansion was located in a forest… meaning there were countless plants that could be manipulated.
In other words, the situation could only grow worse if it continued as it was. It could be easy to imagine that they would eventually run out of stamina.
Yet Supple, despite the situation, didn’t seem panicked at all.
“Calm down, Finley-kun. This is, after all, a magic attack. It’s also earth magic… when it comes to the magic of manipulating plants, although it won’t be worth comparing to Elrise-sama’s deeds, I am quite confident in that regard.”
Supple narrowed his eyes and moved his hands as if he was a conductor playing a tune.
Then the plants that were attacking them stopped moving all at once.
An eye for an eye. Magic for magic.
Since the opponent used magic to manipulate plants, Supple could just use the same thing to take control of them.
When it came to this, it would come down to the competition of mana, and the one with greater amount would be able to command the plants.
And Supple was someone who, back when Elrise once lost her life, thought about how to revive her and recalled the miracle of resurrection that Elrise performed back in the royal capital defense battle and considered using that.
For that reason, Supple thought he needed to reach the realm where Elrise was so he continuously circulated his mana, to the point his sense of self felt like it was being crushed due to the influx of negative emotion, which he managed to endure thanks to his love toward Elrise, and managed to conjure a gigantic golem thanks to that… He managed to reach a mana capacity comparable to Saints.
In the end, Elrise answered the people’s voices for her return and managed to perform a miracle by reviving herself on her own, so Supple’s effort ended up meaningless, but the mana capacity he had acquired stayed as it was.
Therefore, in a competition of mana capacity, even Eterna and Alfrea would have a hard time winning against Supple.
Using an enormous amount of mana, which was an amount already slightly beyond the realm of humans, Supple took control of all the plants in the mansion.
“With this, the threat is neutralized. All that’s left now is to carefully investigate the identity of the enemy.”
“…As expected of you. If only you behaved like that normally, wouldn’t everyone respect you more?”
“That’s rude of you. Do you think I’m weird normally?”
“You are weird. I heard that recently, just because a single letter of Elrise-sama’s words was misspelled in the textbooks, you had all the students’ textbooks taken out and sent them all to be corrected.”
“I only did an obvious thing, though? Also, I sent 326 pages of protest letters to the factory that printed that book.”
“…If only not for this aspect.”
If Supple didn’t get involved with Elrise, he would just be a suspicious looking man with a bad personality yet a very competent person.
But once Elrise got involved, he immediately turned into a troublesome pervert.
And since most things in this world have Elrise’s influence, it meant Supple would be a troublesome pervert practically all the time.
Leaving aside Finley who sighed with a fed-up expression, Supple had his golem advance inside, and the knights also canceled their circle and started advancing.
――Immediately after that, the vines that suddenly resumed their activities had captured several knights.
“What the?! No way!”
Supple opened his eyes wide in astonishment.
The plants in this place were still under control of Supple’s magic.
Therefore, unless the opponent had a greater amount of mana, they wouldn’t be able to move the plants.
Yet the plants moved. In other words, the “enemy” who moved the plants had a mana amount that exceeded Supple’s.
Supple immediately aimed his hands toward the vines and strengthened his mana, but even then, it only slowed down the vines’ movement and couldn’t stop it.
“No way, does that mean their control over plants surpasses mine…?”
“If it surpasses sensei’s current mana amount… Does that mean the enemy has mana comparable to Elrise-sama’s?!”
“That’s not the case. If the enemy reached Elrise-sama’s realm, we would be attacked by the whole forest by now instead of just a few vines.”
Supple thought of a method to overcome the situation while he was sweating.
That said, there was no need to think about it. It was a very simple thing to do.
“Finley-kun, it might be a bit dangerous, but let’s go deeper into the mansion.”
“We’re going to attack the caster, aren’t we?”
“That’s right. Although I don’t understand why, I can’t completely stop these plants. In that case, the simplest way is just to attack the caster.”
There was another way to just retreat outside and burn the mansion, but Supple chose not to mention that.
The mansion itself was a valuable historical document, and there were books in the study.
It would be outrageous to burn them!
“The plants didn’t move as we passed halfway through. Yet when the knight who got caught tried to go inside that room, the plants moved. In other words, it would be disadvantageous for our opponent if we advanced there.”
“In that case, the enemy should be inside! Let’s go, everyone! Forward!”
Finley, who immediately understood Supple’s advice, ordered the knights to charge forward without hesitation.
The knights also broke the circle without hesitation and changed into the most suitable formation for this place without any signal.
The leading knight would clear the way, while the knights who reinforce their left and right side would serve as support and cut down the attacking plants.
The other knights wore barbed shields, knights on the right wielded it on their right while knights on the left wielded it on their left.
With the left and right side guarded tightly, Supple was placed in the center to be protected by the shields.
As the knights became like a spear with their formation, they all advanced with exactly the same speed.
This was originally the formation to break through while protecting the Saint when they were surrounded by enemies.
The saint would be placed in the center, allowing no enemies to approach them, as the knights became the spear of steel to ensure the Saint’s survival despite the despairing situation of being surrounded by enemies in all directions.
It was to become a shield to protect the Saint regardless of the land of the dead they arrived in. It was the formation that showed their “resolve”!
…That said, this formation had never seen the light of day since Elrise became the Saint… not even once.
After all, blocking Elrise’s surrounding with such a formation would only become a hindrance.
And the one they protected now wasn’t a Saint they ought to protect, but a Perverted Glasses Bastard.
It was unknown if it was to sneer over their pitifulness, but there was grass growing on the floor. 1
The knights kept moving forward, and even if someone got knocked down by a plant attack, another knight quickly filled the hole.
There was no help for the fallen comrade. They didn’t reach out their hands to them.
If they did that in the enemy camp and stopped moving, the Saint would be exposed to danger.
That was why knights must be prepared to let their comrades die in front of them, or to be sacrificed for the sake of their comrades.
No matter what happened to them, it would be their victory as long as the Saint was protected.
Therefore, they wouldn’t stop. They consider dying as part of their duty and continued to move forward.
That was the dignity of the knight who was the shield of the Saint! The resolve of the knight!
…That said, not only did Elrise handle all the enemies at once in reality, she even casually helped the fallen soldiers as well, which completely ruined the knights’ resolve.
Moreover, the one they were protected right now was a Perverted Glassed Bastard. The knights already felt like crying now.
On the side note, the knights who got attacked didn’t die. They were just taken away somewhere by the plant.
In any case, they finally reached the innermost part of the mansion while they suffered such a painful experience.
Wouldn’t it be faster to just go outside and destroy the wall from the back to enter instead of honestly advancing through the entrance? A thing like that shouldn’t be mentioned. There were tons of plants outside as well after all.
“Sensei! The enemy!”
“It’s over there. Look, that part is guarded especially tight. The caster should be inside. Finley-kun, can you do it?”
“Leave it to me!”
The innermost room… right in the center.
A large amount of vines were wrapped around it, tightly protecting “something” inside.
The caster must be over there.
Finley followed Supple’s instructions and used magic.
Finley was proficient in ice and wind attributes.
He conjured five ice swords with magic, with seven swords in total if the two swords in his hands were counted.
Then by using wind magic to manipulate the ice swords freely as if he had five additional arms, he performed the seven-sword style!
“Knight” was a combat group that only those who have passed rigorous training could become. It was said the strength of each was comparable to 30 to 50 ordinary soldiers.
Even among them, only a few chosen ones who were allowed to be by the Saint’s side were allowed to call themselves “Guard Knights”.
That title was definitely not an empty one. Due to this magic, Finley became a superhuman that was said to be equivalent to seven knights.
In other words, Finley ー just him alone was comparable to 350 soldiers. It meant he was a one-man army… which would be an exaggeration after all, but he would at least be comparable to a corps.
“Haaaaahhh!”
Finley swung his swords at tremendous speed, cutting through the plants one after another.
The severed parts froze and sealed their movement, and furthermore, cold air was emitted with each swing, freezing the entire room.
By the way, his fellow knights also froze a bit.
The seven swords danced at a speed that even left afterimages, and they trampled the enemy with controlled movement without hitting other swords.
It was truly a peerless skill, worthy of a superhuman. The way he fought was not only terrifying, it also looked beautiful.
…That said, on the side notes.
This skill of Finley had the worst affinity against Leila Scott, who was proficient with flame, as not only would his blade of ice melt when her sword emitted heat, Finley’s pure swordsmanship was also inferior to Leila, making him never win against her.
Also on the side note, Elrise, who saw Finley’s skill, imitated it by manipulating 10,000 swords of ice, which made Finley feel how small he was.
However… they were anomalous people…! The latter shouldn’t be considered someone to be compared to begin with!
Guard Knight was definitely not weak… definitely not!!
Finley shed tears as he recalled the past while he performed his sword dance, tearing apart most of the plants and finally, the figure of the caster was visible.
The thing that vines covered was a broken but luxurious chair.
And there was a figure in rags sitting there.
Supple ran through Finley’s path and finally grabbed the caster.
“I caught you! Come on… let me respect your figure!”
With a confident smile, Supple pulled the rags of the caster who didn’t resist.
The rags were peeled off very easily. At this time, Supple felt uncomfortable at the lacking reaction.
It was weird… the weight wasn’t that of a person.
The figure, stripped of its rags, crumbled without any resistance… and fell at Supple’s feet.
――That figure was… a skeletonized corpse.
“Wha… whaaaattttーーー?!”
As Supple’s startled voice echoed, the plants rushed towards Supple as if they were furious at the same time.
Author Note:
Q: Isn’t this Supple too different to his main story counterpart?
A: It’s because Elrise wasn’t involved this time.
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Ohhh a plant imbued with a person’s consciousness?
Supple was always cool.