Tridente 18

It’s already Tuesday! I don’t get a single day off of work till NEXT Tuesday! Can’t be helped, Join the discord already you lazy lumps.

 

 

Small Village Tridente – Chapter 018

 

rawr: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8908ek/18/

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June, 2XX7

Tears

 

「Accelerate 【Fast Aria】!」

 

Just before Tsurugi-san activated account break, the president activated a skill I hadn’t heard before.

 

「Whatever you do, it’ll be too late! 【Account Break】」

 

TSURUGI IS PREPARING 【Break Account】

RIN CAST 【Snow Drop】 → TSURUGI RECEIVED 500 DAMAGE

RIN CAST 【Snow Drop】 → TSURUGI RECEIVED 500 DAMAGE

RIN CAST 【Snow Drop】 → TSURUGI RECEIVED 500 DAMAGE

RIN CAST 【Snow Drop】 → TSURUGI RECEIVED 500 DAMAGE

 

It all happened in an instant.

Without even giving Tsurugi-san the chance to use account break, the president one-sidedly cast magic at him several times.

Tsurugi-san, due to the unbelievable speed of the incoming rapid-fire magic, was instantly incapacitated.

 

「Kuh!? What the fu-…」

 

The president used resurrection magic on me and we once again turned the tables on them. And all of it happened in 2~3 seconds. I was so dumbfounded by the president’s lightspeed magic slaughter that I forgot to close my mouth.

Seeing Nekama-san casting resurrection magic brought me back to my senses and we attacked him, interrupting it. With only a single healer incapable of withstanding attacks from the both us, we easily achieved victory in the end.

 

「Man, looks like it’s our loss.」

「Damn it! Hey, new face, what the fuck did you just do.」

 

Tsurugi-san believed that he had won the match by defeating me and was unable to accept the fact that they had lost in an instant. He started biting at the president.

 

「【Fast Aria】, a skill that turns the cooldown and casting time of magic into zero… It’s a skill that appeared in response to my feelings.」

 

Magic, unlike skills that can be activated instantly, requires a long time for casting, and it also has the peculiarity that it can be interrupted if you receive an attack. Fast aria turns magic’s weak point, the long casting time, into zero and, in addition, also makes the time until you can reuse it… in other words, the cooldown, into zero. So as long as you have the MP, you can continuously fire your strongest magic.

 

The magic that the president has learned is still just beginner magic, but if she can use fast aria with high-class magic that has strong firepower and fire it rapidly, then she could strike with a terrifying amount of firepower in an instant.

In duels against players, which tend to be short, you could say that it’s the cheatiest of cheat skills.

 

「Is that even allowed… I lost again. Even though I need to save everyone…」

 

『That which you were seeking was not the power of salvation, am I right? Tsurugi-kun.』

 

Suddenly, a voice that I hadn’t heard before echoed and I became wary of the surroundings. No way, more reinforcements? Any more battles than this, I obviously don’t want to do it… thinking so as I turned around, there was a female avatar that I didn’t recognize. And besides her, there was an avatar that I was familiar with… it was Saya’s figure.

Confirming that it was Saya, I judged that they weren’t an enemy and breathed a sigh of relief.

 

「Saya!」

「Mari! Rin! I’m glad that you girls are safe. I’m so glad…」

 

Maybe she knew that I had entered into a battle with the enforcer, she seemed to be extremely worried about me.

 

「Yeah. But still, Seira-san is…」

 

As I talked about what had happened to Seira-san, Saya’s expression quickly turned to one of anger and she glared at the Tsurugi-san, the true identity of the enforcer.

 

「By the way, who is the person with you.」

 

The president moved her gaze to the woman besides Saya. She was equipped with glasses, had her purple hair tied up in a bundle, and wore equipment similar to a party dress.

Judging by her appearance and voice, she seems to be around 25~30 years old, if I’m right. Well, first of all, you can’t really judge a person from their appearance and voice though, as I had learned with Nekama-san.

 

「Oh my, I apologize for the late introduction. My name is Eve… The creator of this world.」

 

Eve, the lady who called herself the creator, moved before the president and pet her head.

 

「Would you understand if I said, I’m the voice from the interview?」

 

The voice from the interview… so, the one replying to us, the users, it was this person.

The president, who had become interested in this world after seeing that interview, 「Please give me your autograph!」, asked her for it.

 

She isn’t a celebrity, so there’s no way she would hav-…

 

『Sure, why not.』

 

So she has one… an autograph.

 

◇

「Why is Saya with someone from the NW Company?」

 

They probably didn’t meet by coincidence. So I asked Saya that question.

「Yesterday, when I was going to log out, I received a message from Eve. She told me that she wanted to ask me about the skill I gained last time, so we should meet. And so, we had a chat.」

 

The skill that Saya learned, the skill that appeared when she wanted to protect me, it was 【Aegis】.

「But, I’m surprised. To think that this small village had 3 Nos. -numbers-」
「Nos.? What do you mean?」
「Nos. is the title of the player characters that created a skill with the power of their emotions.」


Nos. 1 Saaya of Aegis
Nos. 4 Tsurugi of Break
Nos. 7 Rin of Aria


The system that turns your emotions into power was introduced as an experiment, but the Nos. that have appeared as of now, including the president who had just manifested earlier, are seven people in this country, it seems.


「The skills that manifest from being drawn to a player’s strong emotions, they become unique abilities only for themselves.

However, Tsurugi-kun’s ability was something that we didn’t expect. To think that it would create an ability to destroy accounts.」

「It’s all your fault. Because of you we are…」

「Is that really true? As a result of the investigation and analysis regarding your emotion data during the PK uproar these past few days, it was found that your skill was created out of jealousy. I wonder what that jealousy was aimed towards.」


「Tsk… it’s like you said. The truth is, it being a skill that will protect everyone is just an excuse. Challenging Death Scythe Mantis wanting to become a hero, it wasn’t me who accomplished it, but rather Mari-jouchan and Saaya. Saaya, who even gained a special skill to protect everyone, was the very image of a knight that I longed for. Why isn’t it me? Why is it Saaya? “If only she didn’t exist”, I thought many times. And the skill that appeared before me as I went mad with jealousy was account break… completely different from my ideals, it’s a contradictory skill.」

 

I hadn’t noticed it all, that Tsurugi-san had worried that much after that battle.

But in the end, it made Tsurugi-san’s Nos. skill manifest. Tsurugi-san’s emotion, it may have gone astray from the right path, but maybe at the root of it there was an emotion that wished to protect everyone, like the ideal knight. Even I, after hearing what had happened to Seira-san, ended up fighting with the emotions of anger and hatred.


「Oh well. The NW Company doesn’t feel like disposing of you. Even though you have destroyed other people’s accounts, it’s originally NW’s fault for introducing the unpredictable Nos. skills, after all. And from now on, if you want to continue destroying accounts with that skill, then you’re free to do so.」

 

As she said that, Eve used resurrection and revived Tsurugi-san and Nekama-san.

 

So they won’t punish him… Honestly, I can’t accept it, but as long as it’s the decision of the management, then all we can do is abide to it.


「Even though I don’t have the power to protect, this is the result of me pretending to be a knight and forming the subjugation party. Going mad with jealousy and then getting the power of destruction, how ironic. I am… so uncool.」

 

Somehow holding down my anger that still hadn’t settled down, I approached Tsurugi-san who feebly hung his head.


「I won’t forgive you for PKing Seira-san. But, Tsurugi-san who stood up and said let’s cooperate and make a village. And Tsurugi-san who drew everyone together and made the subjugation party. You were really cool, you know. So, don’t hate yourself too much.」


「Mari-jouchan… If I had known that you felt like that, things might have ended differently.」


「After all, others can’t understand it if you don’t say anything… our feelings.」



◇

 

Tsurugi-san, to take responsibility, said that he would retire from NW. He said that from now on, he will find a way to save people from the world’s demise in the real world.

「This time, I won’t make mistakes. I’ll show you that I can save them.」 saying that, he logged out.

 

Eve-san was sulking about losing valuable Nos. research material, but saying 「From the people who announce their retirement from online games, 90% of them come back, so we will probably meet again.」, she didn’t show any signs of having given up.

 

Nekama-san seemed worried over whether to continue playing NW from now on. But with Tsurugi-san’s matter and the matter about the new world, it’s chaotic so I think it’s normal.

 

I questioned Eve-san about Seira-san coming back again, but account break’s effect is something that even the management can’t cancel, it seems. Returning is nigh impossible, I was told.

This game doesn’t allow you to create a sub account, so meeting Seira-san in NW a second time will not happen.



◇



I stood in front of Seira-san’s house and remembered the days we spent together with Seira-san.

「Is that Seira-san’s spear?」

 

Worried about me, who was feeling considerably depressed, Saya came closer.

「Yeah, it’s become a memento, but, it’s proof of the time we spent with Seira-san.」

 

The days we met in this village, fought together, laughed together… they won’t come back ever again.

 

It’s sad. It’s frustrating. I wanted to save her.

I wanted to protect Seira-san…

 

Hey, Seira-san

You know, I… this time, I learned something for the first time

That, in this world, there are tears

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Chapter 18 END

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Goddess Bless.