I’m a Bastard But You’re Worse!

In a vacant lot in Avalons slums, the sounds of clashing metal echoed repeatedly.

Ha, ha, ha, hahaha!! This is so exciting!! Dyngir Maxwell!!

Glad to hear that! Im fighting for my life though!!

Just when I thought I had parried the blade coming from the left, she thrust the pole from the right.

When I blocked her slashes from above, she attempted a strike from below.

Shanas seamless attacks forced me to take a defensive stance.

The lance was superior to the sword in two areas.

The first was, obviously, the length of its reach. The second was the ability to attack with both of its ends, the blade and the pole.

Shanas lance was somewhat shorter than the ones used by soldiers in field battles. Thanks to its reduced length, she could spin it and use centrifugal force to unleash continuous attacks.

In the time I took to swing my sword once, Shana could perform two attacks with her weapons blade and pole. Our speed was more or less the same, which meant that I was at a massive disadvantage in terms of attack frequency.

Whats wrong!? Is this all the Maxwell prodigy amounts to!?

Shana was probably confident in her superiority: she shouted as she continued attacking, without leaving me any time to regain my balance.

Hah, I cant act uncool before a beautiful woman like you! Guess I should put in some effort!

I dodged Shanas pole strike and used my free hand to perform a palm thrust. My target was the center of Shanas lance, the axis of its rotations.

Khuh!?

No matter how fast she spun her weapon, as long as she rotated in a circle, there was an axis about the center.

Since the axis did not move, there was no way to evade my strike.

Shana took the full brunt of the impact and was knocked backward.

Impressive! To see through my lance in such a short time!

I excel at finding a womans vulnerable spots after all!!

I used the tip of my sword to flick one of the pebbles at my feet, sending it flying.

While it was just a pebble, if it hit someones forehead at that speed, it was enough to knock them out.

Whah!?

Shana hurriedly blocked the attack coming from beyond my swords range.

It was finally my turn. I continued bombarding her with pebbles, without giving her one second of pause.

Tch! Ah! You sure are nimble, arent you!!

Shana gradually came closer, while parrying my stone bullets.

I stepped backward as she did, so the distance between us did not change.

I continued flicking stones as I moved, of course. I wasnt going to get in range of her blasted lance ever again.

Haha, I admit it feels nice to be chased around by such a pretty woman!

Grr, damn you and your tricks.! Time for a change of plans

Shana stopped parrying the pebbles, retreated a bit, and wielded her lance in a different stance.

She looked full of openings at first glance: my stones were hitting her shoulders and legs, but she didnt seem affected.

(Whats going on?)

I had a bad feeling and concentrated more on her movements.

The next instant, I found that my instincts were right on the money.

Sea Snake!!

Whoah!!?

Shana thrust her lance forward and a real *snake made of water* materialized from the tip.

A snake, as thick as an adult mans arm, shot towards me at high speed.

I instinctively rolled on the ground to dodge the snakes fangs, and the water creature crashed through the stone wall behind me.

That lanceis a magic tool!?

Indeed!! Shes my beloved partner, Leviathan!!

In this world, the mysterious force called magic did not exist anymore.

It only appeared in fairytales and similar stories: magic users were the stuff of legend.

More than one thousand years ago, however, magic techniques were widespread: magic tools, the relics of such an era, were sometimes found in ancient ruins.

Magic Tools were the last remaining evidence of an era when magic civilizations flourished. In the current age, as the usage of magic was lost, they were considered miracle tools.

I found this magic tool myself when I explored ruins in the empire. Its ability is as you just witnessed!

Shana swung her lance twice, sending two water snakes to attack me.

Tch!

The two snakes attacked me from the left and the right, and I could not dodge completely: one of them grazed my left arm, which started dripping blood.

This lance lets me create snakes made of water and send them to attack my enemies. Its just water, in the end, so theyre not strong enough to damage metal, but it can destroy stone, or easily rip through someones neck.

Yeah, I feel that all right. Really impressive!!

My face was twisted in anger.

I finally met a breathtaking beauty, but she turned out to be a killer sent to take my life, and was armed with a magic weapon to boot. Insane.

youre right, its going to be hard to take you alive.

You make it sound like itd be easy to kill me. Hehehe, you sure can make my body and soul burn! I almost want to embrace you and give you a kiss.

Id gladly accept that, anytime!

Oh, I will but to your corpse!!

Shana swung her lance multiple times, creating a water snake each time.

Once again, I was forced on the defensive and ran around the slums vacant plot.

Putting more distance between us, however, turned out to work against me. I started running out of breath without finding any opening to counterattack.

(She really is one hell of a woman!)

The situation was deadly, but I wasnt really worried.

I couldnt counterattack immediately, but I was sure she couldnt continue such a barrage forever.

How long are you going to run around!? Didnt you want to capture me alive?

Nah, Im fine just running. Youre going to collapse any moment anyway.

What did you say!?

Shanas well-formed eyebrows rose.

Ive fought a few times against magic tool users, I know that you cant just use them forever. Eventually youll run out of strength.

Magic tools fed on the users physical energy, spirit, and maybe a mysterious energy we didnt know about.

Youve been swinging that lance a lot already, and I know that youre getting tired. If you wipe your sweat in that sexy way, anyone could tell.

Ngh

Shana had been swinging her lance with reckless abandon the whole time, but after using its magic tool abilities she started sweating profusely.

Judging from the fact that her legs, exposed by the slits of her dress, were clearly sweating too, she had to be fairly fatigued already.

I dont even need to attack. Ill just wait till you collapse, then bring you back home with me.

Oh? Do you really think you can dodge my snakes until I run out of energy?

Yup, without breaking a sweat either.

I scoffed and taunted Shana, then pointed a finger at her.

The snakes coming out of your lance may look like they can move freely anywhere, but actually they have fixed patterns, right? If you swing the lance down, the snakes come from above. If you swing it from the right, they come from the right too. Basically, they move the same way the lance does. As long as I observe your lance, dodging the snakes is a piece of cake!

So you found out!

Having an ace up your sleeve doesnt mean anything if you dont take out your opponent immediately with it. If you just keep shooting randomly like that, its like youre begging me to figure it out. Maybe you need a bit more experience in actual fighting, hmm?

She probably never fought an opponent skilled enough to dodge the sea snakes repeatedly.

Her fighting style was simply too straightforward. Trump cards should be kept hidden till the last moment: but she completely lacked such tactics and schemes.

Shana was quiet for a while, then finally spoke.

I see. This was a learning experience.

Really. You can surrender anytime, you know.

Howevertheres a misunderstanding. When did I say that the Water Snakes were my trump card?

Hm?

This is what you call a trump card!!

Shana raised her lance high, then swung it down.

Then, from the tip of the lance, a water torrent gushed forward.

Oooh!?

Face my lances secret skill Sea Serpent!!

Shana unleashed a massive water dragon the size of a tidal wave such that the water snakes looked puny in comparison.

Its size and speed were much greater than the snakes.

If you have so much confidence in yourself, try to dodge this!! Taste my power to the fullest!!

Yeah, no wayI cant dodge that.

It was physically impossible to dodge such a massive water dragon at this distance. So I had to give up on any evasion attempts.

I guess I have no choicebut to cut through it.

What!?

I faced the water dragon directly.

Out of my own free will, I jumped into the beasts gaping maw.

Are you throwing away your life!?

No, not really! Here goes!!

I swung my sword through the air.

The blade cut through the water dragon, slicing it in half.

T-this cant be!

Siegfried!!

The water dragon, cleaved in half by my sword, turned back to mere water, lost all of its momentum and splashed on the ground. The water dragon was now nothing more than a puddle: it did not pose a threat anymore.

I used the momentum of my jump and hit the speechless Shana with a flying kick.

There!!

Gah!!

Maybe because she had run out of energy after using her magic tools power to the fullest, Shana couldnt move and my kick hit her squarely in the abdomen, sending her flying.

Her lance Leviathan fell from her hands and rolled away from her.

Yourswordis a magic tooltoo?

Shana managed to pull herself up on her feet and squeeze the words out.

I told you, you gotta keep your trump card hidden till the very last moment.

My Siegfried was a magic tool with the power to cut through any and all forms of magic power.

In an age without magic, it was just a very sharp sword, but against opponents armed with magic tools, like Shana, its true ability shone.

If you used that sword from the startyou would have defeated me more easily!

I couldnt have captured you alive though. I promised, right? Im going to drag you to an inn.

Even disregarding the magic tools powers, Shana was a master of the lance.

If I used my sword to neutralize her sea snakes from the start, she would have simply continued to fight purely with her lance skills.

If the battle developed like that, I might have not been able to exhaust her like this and capture her unscathed.

I seeso you were holding back from the start. Hahaso you want to make me yours that badly?

I believe you are a woman worthy of risking my life for, yeah.

I must sayit doesnt feel bad to be so sought afteraah, honestlythat strength of yours is just irresistible

After whispering such words, Shana collapsed on the ground again. She had completely lost consciousness.

I put my sword back into the sheath and lifted her body up.

Hmm, lighter than expected.

I leisurely observed her body from head to toe, then snorted, satisfied.

As excellent as I thoughtto be able to find women like her is what makes nightlife worth livinganyway, you might as well come out already. Youre there, right?

Heeheehee, you found me, sir?

A lean man stepped out of the shadows.

He was the very reason why I visited the slums at that time of night.

Youve been there for a while, right? You could have given me a hand there.

Sir, please. I could not join a battle of such level with my meager skills. Heehee.

The name of the man I had previously sent to infiltrate the Man-Eating Tigers bandits was Clown. It was definitely not his real name, but I couldnt care less.

I have a new job for you. Do you have time now?

Naturally, sir. With the world as peaceful as it is these days, people like me have very little work, unfortunately.

Really. Well, first of all, carry my luggage.

Heehee? Luggage?

I motioned with my chin at Leviathan lying on the ground.

I have my hands full, as you can see. Pick that up and follow me to the inn. I have to take care of the lady until she recovers.

She might have been hurt in the battle, so I had the duty to watch over her very closely and take good care of her, after all.

Ahheethats your request, sir?

Yeah, for today. Thats my top priority.

Clown was perplexed, but my answer was firm.

No matter what work requests I had, nothing was more important than a beautiful womans body.

Ill contact you another time about the other job. Its nothing urgent anyway.

Heeheeis that so

Clown seemed a bit dejected but did not protest as he obediently picked up the lance and followed me.

I looked up and noticed that the moon had reached its zenith,

This is a really good night.

So I whispered, enthralled, as I caressed Shanas beautiful thighs, damp with sweat.