The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 090 – Ssulal’s Attack [B]
“Oi oi, at least hit the serve properly. It won’t be a game otherwise.”
“Screw y—!”
As Hunty said that, another ball flew at high speed.
It was barely within Hunty’s range this time, and even though she managed to catch up at the last moment,
“Kuh…!”
Hunty couldn’t hit it back. All she managed to do was let the ball touch her racket and it flew in the wrong direction.
As the second point was taken from her, Hunty shouted.
“If you want a proper game, at least don’t go all out!!”
“Hm? It’s not like I’m going all out at all, but… fuh, I see. So you thought I was going all out with just that.”
…He’s so annoying…!
Hunty gritted her teeth. How to say it, it felt similar to the exchanges they had while sparring.
In fact, such an exchange was often used to provoke her. Hunty knew from her long years of experience it was his way to motivate her. But even if she understood that, it didn’t change the fact that it was annoying.
…If that’s how you want to play it…!
Since her opponent made use of his power as a majin, there was no choice but to resist using her own power.
“Well then, let’s go—”
Leonhart served the ball once again. The ball in his left hand was thrown in the air and he swung the racket with his right hand.
…It’s coming!
Faster than the ball flying, Hunty used her magic without anyone knowing.
She used the magic, moved to the predicted trajectory, and released the magic,
“—It’s right here…!”
“Wha—?!”
She hit back at Leonhart’s serve.
Leonhart, wide eyed and surprised, chased after the ball, and swung his racket again.
But here, Hunty used her magic again and moved to the spot,
“There.”
“!”
The moment the ball passed the net, she knocked the ball down toward the opponent’s court.
Looking at the rolling ball, Hunty looked toward Leonhart and,
“And now, I got one point back…”
“…Don’t use Instant Movement for this—!”
Leonhart retorted with an angry tone.
“That’s dirty! Is it fair to even use magic in tennis?!”
“If I don’t, then it won’t even be a proper match. But well, I don’t mind stopping if you tell me you’re afraid of losing?”
Hunty said that teasingly. As Leonhart saw, he raised an eyebrow and,
“…Fine.”
As he said that, he tossed the ball upward.
Then, as he exerted more power than before,
“I will go seriously this time—!”
“!”
He served the ball.
It was faster than before, and one could hear the smash that echoed in the court the moment the racket connected with the ball.
But Hunty went ahead and used her Instant Movement,
“It’s not a ball that couldn’t be hit back!”
The ball was hit back to the opposite court.
Then Leonhart stepped in, demonstrating his instant maximum speed, and caught up with the ball.
“Same could be said to your ball!”
And he hit the ball back.
Then it happened.
“Uh, ah—”
Hunty stopped moving.
It was because the trajectory of the ball was,
“…”
Heading in Camilla’s direction.
“Oops, the ball is finally headed toward Camilla-sama! This could be the commemorative first shot!”
“Camilla-sama! It’s right there!”
At Carol’s commentary, Shichisei also raised his arms and cheered since it would be the first shot his master would make. Meanwhile, Camilla shook her racket casually and,
“…!!”
The ball disappeared in an instant.
It was a shot unleashed by the power of a majin. And it was from a high ranking majin who was strong enough to earn a place as one of the Four Elite Majins. It wouldn’t be weird if the ball disappeared like when Leonhart hit it.
However, the ball didn’t fly within the court. Instead, it flew toward the side of the court,
“—?! Cami—”
“Ah.”
It smashed into Shichisei’s flank with all its glory. His body was blown away by the impact of the ball, pinning his body to the wall.
The wall cracked and part of the wall collapsed as it was.
Everyone who was watching it stiffened as they were shocked.
However, Carol just blew her whistle,
“—1 point for Leonhart-sama’s team!”
And gave the score.
At that moment, Leonhart shouted at Carol.
“Is it really the time to say that?!”
“Eh?”
As Carol tilted her head, Shichisei who was planted on the wall fell to the ground, but as he somehow managed to get up,
“Gu, ooh…! C-Camilla-sama… you should, pay attention, to where, you hit the ball, with the racket… haah, haah…” 1
“…Sorry.”
Even Camilla apologized obediently, albeit in a whisper, since she felt awkward for accidently hurting her own apostle without meaning to.
Leonhart exhaled as he saw that,
“…Anyway, we can win the game with just another point…”
“As expected, I have nothing but bad feelings about this…”
As Ssulal muttered, Leonhart was ready to serve the ball again.
And as he smashed the ball,
“—Let’s go!”
“C-come o—?!”
Hunty’s eyes went wide.
It wasn’t because the ball was fast. Well, it was fast, but something strange happened in front of her eyes.
And that was,
“What the, the ball Leonhart-sama served split in two—!”
As the ball split cleanly in half and flew to the other side of the court, Leonhart put his game face on and said,
“—There is nothing I can’t cut.”
“Even if that’s the case, don’t cut the ball—!”
Hunty shouted, while making use of her Instant Movement to hit both balls.
As Ssulal saw what happened in front of her, she thought briefly.
…What the hell is this? 2
“Kuh… It’s just this much… then even I…!”
“Hah! That smash isn’t even comparable to mine! Look, this is the real smash—!!”
“…I’m gradually, getting used to it…!”
The balls came and went at high speed on the court.
The balls would sometimes split in two, then both were hit back using Instant Movement. Sometimes it would curve in an inexplicable way, sometimes it dug into the wall or ground, as such a fierce exchange happened in front of them.
There was one thing that strongly came to Ssulal’s mind as she saw that. That was,
…I think, this — isn’t the game known as tennis…!
Normal tennis wouldn’t have the ball blow people away or disappear. What they did must be something that resembled tennis. There was no doubt about that.
And there was another thing that Ssulal was dissatisfied with, or rather, unconvinced about. As she looked at the racket on her hand,
…I didn’t get to touch the ball even once…
Because the exchange was too absurd, she didn’t even get the chance to touch the ball. Leonhart and Camilla made use of their physical abilities as majins and produced great shots one after another.
As for Hunty, she was weirdly good at the game, and she somehow managed to keep hitting back Leonhart’s ball through use of her Instant Movement and splendid racket handling. 3
As for Ssulal, she only stood there and looked at their exchange. She wanted to at least hit the ball with her racket once.
As she had such thought,
“Kuh…!”
“!”
Hunty hit the ball wrong, making it fly high upward.
And as it softly drew a curve and fell toward Ssulal’s direction,
…Here’s the chance!
Although Ssulal was exasperated a few seconds ago, now the ball had actually flown her way she got a little excited about it. Perhaps she could be considered too simple? However, she also wanted to hit the ball at least once, and perhaps it would produce an interesting result.
With that thought, she swung her racket.
“—Ei.”
With a short exclamation, she hit the ball with her racket.
At that moment.
“Ah.”
“—?! Ma—-GUOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH?!”
The ball flew at the speed of light in an instant.
At that super speed, the ball didn’t fly toward the court, but toward Shichisei instead, blowing him away once again.4
But even as the ball dug into him, the momentum didn’t decrease, making him crash into the wall as it was, destroying the wall with explosive sound.
“Gah, hah… W,ha,t… did I, do wro—”
Shichisei sank into a crater shape in the wall and fainted with the whites of his eyes showing.
The people around who witnessed that turned silent, shocked by the tragedy.
Meanwhile, Carol blew her whistle,
“…It’s Ssulal-sama’s victory.”
“…N-no objection.”
“S-Shichisei is…”
Hunty and Camilla’s voice shook as if they witnessed something terrible.
Although Ssulal did something terrible, she raised her voice to explain that she had no such intention.
“Wai, no, that’s not it! I didn’t do it on purpose—”
“As expected… not even I can say I could smash a ball like that. It was a killer smash to kill the opponent… Nah, it was an attack from the maou… I guess we could consider it a special move…”
“Wah! I told you that’s not it—!!”
Even as Ssulal tried to explain, when she heard what Leonhart said as he approached her, Ssulal screamed with teary eyes.
“So this is tennis… no, it is Ssulal’s ‘shining sun strike’ (Tenisu) I see…!” 5
“Don’t give it a weird name—?!”
And so, their first tennis game was over.
Meanwhile, around the same time.
“Munch munch… hm, as expected, the food in this stall is quite good. The taste of the sauce paired well with the food, and made it great. Well then, the next one—”
There was Galtia, who forgot the initial appointment, and enjoyed the food from the stalls.
Author Note:
Ssulal: “What is tennis again…?”
Carol: “It is an inhuman ball game where the match is decided by how one KO’d their opponent!”
Leonhart: “Then the things we did were tennis.”
Hunty: “That’s definitely not it…”
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