Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 99

99: My Battle Dress

The tenth and final match.

Having… recharged… unexpectedly, I was full of energy, a stark contrast to how one should feel at the end of a long series of battles.

This was the final battle.

“Lord of Disease. As this is the final match, I will reiterate. In addition to the initial rules, ‘I yield’ and ‘I surrender’ will be treated as the same. No traps. No poison. No magic from outside the training ground. No summoning of summoned creatures with a summoning device. No using magical beasts to fight in your stead. And no winning through blackmail or bribery.”

“That’s unusually long.”

“She’s not kidding.”

Liz and Rebecca’s brief comments were filled with a world of meaning.

“Is that clear?”

“Of course. This is the final match, after all. I will win, honorably, by the sword.”

“Hahaha. I don’t believe you.”

“Then see for yourself. And believe.” I smiled.

“I am the Lord of Disease. I swear on my name. I will win, honorably, with the sword I wield.”

“…Can I really believe you?”

“I don’t lie to those who believe in me.”

“What about before?”

“It’s unfortunate that the skill of reading between the lines is so often overlooked.”

“Alright, alright… I believe you. You’re going to do something villainous, aren’t you?”

“Did you not hear me say I’m going to fight honorably?”

The air in the venue was tense. A mixture of hope that I would keep my word, and the certainty that I would resort to some villainous tactic, as I had before.

“Dark Knights, are you ready?”

“Of course. We will tear off her mask with our swords. If she resorts to villainous tactics now, it will be clear that she is unworthy of the rank of supreme commander.”

I smiled silently at the slicked-back dark elf—the tenth young Dark Knight, the leader of the upstarts.

He was confident in his abilities. I was confident of victory.

We took our positions, a reasonable distance apart, and raised our wooden swords.

“Let the match begin!”

“—Now, then.”

“No talking!” The Dark Knight charged, kicking off the training ground floor.

“If I don’t let her talk, she’s just a novice!”

He was fast. His movements were sharp. And before my sword could reach him, his struck my shoulder.

“—You’ve underestimated me.”

It had struck me, but that was all.

My swing wasn’t for defense. If I didn’t have to guard, I had plenty of time to counter.

“Guh…?!” My wooden sword slammed into his side. Not a fatal blow, of course. Nothing that would prevent him from continuing the training.

But as he jumped back, out of my reach, his face was a mask of shock. For him, that blow was an impossibility. He’d intended to take me down in a single strike, not be countered.

“I am the Lord of Disease. Did you really think this outfit was just for show?” I smiled. The wind, which had picked up as the sun began to set, caught the twisted shoulder cloth, and I swept it aside with my finger.

No one said a word, waiting for me to speak. I broke the silence, my voice cutting through the sound of the wind whipping at my robes.

“This is my battle dress. A high-density magic cloth robe, woven by my second in command, who always prioritizes my life, and a collection of the finest, defense-focused magic items…?”

A work of art, befitting the King of Disease and Poison, designed to prevent the various enchantments from interfering with each other.

I didn’t use offensive magic, nor did I need to enhance my weapons, so as I’d said, it was focused on defense.

I had been wearing this outfit ever since Liz had given it to me, the night before my investiture. In private, I didn’t wear the shoulder cloth, staff, or mask. And usually, not the gloves.

But in public, I was always in this, my Lord of Disease attire.

So, everyone thought it was natural. …Perhaps even Liz, Rebecca, Samarkand, and Harken.

“Even with some skill, do you really think you can get through this with a wooden sword and no offensive magic?”

That was the purpose of the rules.

• Wooden swords shall be used as weapons.

• Wooden swords may be inspected by representatives from both sides beforehand. There are no regulations regarding length, but the tips must be rounded and the lethality minimized.

• Armor is not permitted.

They had either forgotten, or been unaware, that this was a magic item far more durable than a Dark Knight’s armor.

They had lost the moment they’d failed to object to me wearing it.

“Now, shall we fight until ‘one of us loses consciousness’? Though your chances of winning are zero.”

I pointed my wooden sword at him.

“…Cowardly…”

“Your own commander could undoubtedly win, even with these rules.”

A training sword was still a wooden sword, a club. And even defensive magic wasn’t perfect. It was maintained by my mana, so it wasn’t infinite.

But in a bare-knuckle brawl, I had the advantage—almost 100%.

That said, if he was stronger than Liz and I had anticipated, that would be the end of it. If he was as strong as the Commander of the Dark Knights.

“This is a training exercise! Honorably—yes! Fight honorably…!”

“Have you not trained for defeat? —Remember this, fledgling. The word ‘honorably’ is impressive when spoken by someone who can crush the unreasonable with their own strength. It’s not a word to be used to cover up your own lack of skill, to create a battlefield where you can win.”

‘Honorably’ was a twisted word.

The abilities people were born with were different. There were gaps that couldn’t be bridged by effort.

In this nation, your superior might be of a different race.

Someday, someone would lament, resent, curse the race they were born into. Someday, someone would envy, hate, curse another race.

Someday, someone would use their race as an excuse.

—This nation was a coalition of disparate groups, united against a common enemy, the human race.

To win. And to not fight among themselves after they won.

They needed to be taught that ‘honorably’ was not a panacea, not a guarantee of equality, but a cruel, unreasonable word.

And they needed to be taught that we had gathered to not fight among ourselves, to not exclude those who were different.

“—I have fought honorably.”

“What are you talking about?! Where was the ‘honor’ in today’s matches?!”

The entire venue nodded in agreement. But I declared,

“I have provided all of you with a means to win.”

“What…?”

I recounted today’s battles, explaining slowly, one by one.

“You could have noticed you were poisoned, or detoxified yourselves.”

“You could have resisted the sleep magic.”

“You could have withstood the backlash of the defensive magic.”

“You could have trained to resist poison.”

“You could have resisted the illusion magic.”

“You could have protected your loved ones yourself, or you could have trusted my words.”

“You could have resisted temptation and fought.”

“You could have defeated Harken with a sword.”

“You could have defeated the Barghests one-on-one, without insulting them.”

“And even now, you could have the skill to break through this defensive magic with a wooden sword.”

This world was unreasonable, cruel, and unequal.

So, perhaps, to fight with all your might, in spite of that, was what it meant to be honorable.

“That’s not necessary!”

“Everything is necessary on the battlefield. And we are at war. Wherever the Demon King’s army is, that is the battlefield. And there is no equality of numbers, no balance of power. The enemy we fight is a human race that far surpasses us in national strength.”

I declared,

“We are the protectors of Listrea. What is required of us is not the ability to win an honorable, well-mannered duel on equal terms. What is required of us is everything necessary to overcome every disadvantage and to resolutely protect everything behind us.”

I smiled and raised my wooden sword again.

“Now, let me educate you.”

I said, my voice gentle, as he took a step back, not even raising his wooden sword.

“I won’t tell you to surrender. You might be able to win if you fight until I lose consciousness. You are a Dark Knight, and I am just a human woman.” And then, I smiled.

“By the way, I haven’t forgotten that you tried to attack me before I could even properly greet you.”

“Huh?”

“Before we settle this with wooden swords, how about a little exposé? I have about three secrets of yours. Which one should we start with? Maybe the one that I personally find most… distasteful?”

“…What?”

His bewildered words were probably the sentiment of the entire venue.