After Retirement, Living a Stud Life in Another World - 48
Chapter 48: Ninja?
When the man called Lutz sensed suspicion in his comrades’ voices, a cross-shaped shuriken was already deeply embedded in the back of his neck, around the cervical spine. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but with his nervous system severed, he couldn’t move his limbs with willpower. Like a puppet with its strings cut, he could only collapse to the ground.
“What kind of trick is this, damn it?”
The bandits were infuriated, but I had witnessed it, and I knew. The shuriken that guy threw bounced off and, without falling, spun widely around him, gaining speed and charging at him again. Ayaka-san’s shuriken throwing was a basic skill, but automatic tracking was a technique achievable only with dark magic, a skill mastered by Ayaka-san, an A-rank mage. Well, if I hadn’t heard about it beforehand, I wouldn’t have known.
However, automatic tracking is quite a mana-consuming technique. According to what I heard, it depletes mana after about five shots… it’s a last-minute reversal move. Hey, so what should we do now that you’ve used that ace in the hole so quickly?
“I will keep throwing them as long as I can.”
Ayaka-san’s response was earnest. And from her words, agile thieves who excelled in close combat started attacking one after another. Ayaka-san continued to throw shurikens in unexpected directions, inflicting fatal wounds on the attackers. One, two… seven, eight… huh?
“Ayaka-san… is your mana okay?”
“Well?”
Even she, with a relaxed expression, gave a playful response. Moreover, the question mark added to it is cute but confusing.
“I usually reach my limit after five shots, but for some reason, I’m fine this time… I brought plenty of shurikens, so shall we keep going?”
Wait, somehow, Ayaka-san seems to have transformed from the “elegant lady” into the “carefree lady.” Well, this way, it might be less troublesome, so it might be fun.
And transformed Ayaka-san seemed strangely powerful. After all, she threw nine shurikens and defeated a total of seventeen people, still having mana left.
“Ayaka, are you really not in the S class?”
“The result of the baptism was undoubtedly A class…”
Beatrice tilted her head seriously, and Ayaka-san responded while throwing the eighteenth shuriken.
And finally, the awaited voice echoed.
“Sorry to keep you waiting! Ayaka-chan, step back!”
“Yes, Lady Hildegarde!”
“These guys have gone this far! Come, ‘Flame Giant’! Obey me!”
When Mom chanted somewhat chuunibyou-esque spell names, it happened.
Flames rose beside Mom, and in an instant, the fire’s intensity increased, blazing in bright red. The flames, reaching about three times the height of a person, gradually deepened in color, forming something like a doll. We, including the enemy bandits, were left gaping as it turned into a gigantic yet incredibly beautiful statue of a fire goddess. With flowing long hair and a bow held gracefully in its supple hand, it seemed so captivating that one couldn’t help but be drawn in.
“Brigid! Defeat them!”
With a determined tone, Mom gave orders, and the goddess named Brigid attached a fiery arrow to her flaming bow, releasing it with swift, unimaginably agile movements. A single red trail streaked through the air, and three bandits in its path instantly burst into flames.
The goddess continued to shoot arrows in her transcendent aura, each shot reducing the number of bandits. Upon closer inspection, the crimson death trails were skillfully avoiding the leader of the bandits, as well as the “important guys” such as the noble and their knight escorts. I see, those who need to be exposed for their crimes must be spared for interrogation.
“That’s it. We had to leave the ringleader alive, so the only magic with a ridiculously long preparation time was this one. Mom’s magic is limited to ‘burn everything’ types, apart from this!”
Come to think of it, she did mention something like that. Mom’s magical power is the kingdom’s only SS-class, unmatched by others. However, despite having the most magical power, Mom is quite weak in magic control. In simple terms, she can only unleash extremely powerful attacks. I heard this from my brother Sieg. About twenty years ago, she was hailed as a “hero” for using that magic to annihilate over tens of thousands of enemies. The situation at that time was that there were only enemies in front of Mom, so she didn’t need to aim; she just had to unleash the full force of her fire magic.
So in cases like today where we “can’t leave any enemies,” Mom, who can’t aim, suddenly becomes unable to cast magic. The kingdom’s strongest magician has an unbelievable weakness. The only way to solve this is to summon the Fire Goddess like this, and have her target the enemies for Mom.
“Now, the small fry are taken care of, right? Surrender? Or… do you want more?”
A predatory smile, like a beast toying with its prey, appeared on Mom’s lips. I secretly thought it resembled Gretel a bit… but that’s just between us.