My Disciples Think I’m Strong

“You’re being a nuisance all day long.”
“Can’t be helped, can it? Since you’re carrying that weapon.”

Aerial pointed to the sword attached to my waist.

“Then would you stop bothering me if I gave this to someone else?”
“Hmm. That would be problematic.”
“Why’s that?”
“There’s no one else who can maintain the possession state as long as you, and you and Pasma resemble each other quite a bit. So if I talked to someone else, I’d lose that sense of immersion.”

Resemble each other?
Was she referring to something similar to what Pasma said about our mana wavelengths matching?

“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, I’m not too sure myself, but you’re quite ‘out of place,’ for some reason.”

I almost reacted to her saying I was ‘out of place.’
If I didn’t have the Emotionless Mask skill, my emotions would have shown on my face.

Was it because I was a Spirit King after all?
Had she sensed that I was an ‘outsider’?

“And there’s one more reason for you to possess me right now. So you’d better do it quickly.”
[I suppose Airy is right. It’s best I do so.]
“Why’s that?”
[It seems there’s an intruder in this annex. A considerably powerful one.]

An intruder in the Duke’s residence?
With how many knights the ducal family had, how could someone break in?

“…I see.”

Come to think of it, there was one person.
An absolute powerhouse who could come and go in the Duke’s residence as they pleased, without anyone saying a word.

I placed my hand on the sword’s hilt and recited the skill.

“Revenant.”

It created a sense of self, allowing Pasma to take over my body at any time.

“It’s Maria’s room.”

Aerial said with her eyes closed, likely using her wind-sensing ability.
Since wind was everywhere, she could perceive anything.

“My friend, is Maria a precious child to you?”

I nodded at Pasma’s unexpected question.

“…Yeah. Tina, Iris, Maria – they’re all precious children to me. Irreplaceable.”
“Of course. They’re ‘heroes’, after all.”
“So you knew, Aerial.”
“How could I not? But you already knew those kids would awaken as heroes too, didn’t you? That’s why you spent the huge sum of 1,300 gold to buy Maria, right?”
“…So now you believe what I said.”
“The story about demons invading the Empire a few years from now seems far-fetched. But the credibility of your words has been proven.”

She snickered.
I didn’t know what she was thinking, but one thing was certain:

As a Spirit King, Aerial would never betray the heroes.

It wasn’t the four Spirit Kings who could defeat the Demon King and win – only the heroes could.
As long as the Demon King lived, the demon race would remain, constantly threatening the spirit realm. Creating interdimensional gates was trivial for the Demon King.

“The heroes may be capable, but they’re still immature. As their guardian, you should help them, Praus.”
“Of course.”
“If I had directly contracted with someone, I could intervene. But for now, I can only trust Pasma.”
“I understand.”

Spirit Kings couldn’t interfere in the human world.
It was due to the constraint between the worlds.

To somewhat offset this constraint, a ‘contract’ was needed. Only then could they gain the causality to interfere in the human world.

“Looking at you, Praus, it seems like you don’t know anything – as if you’ve already lived in this world before.”

It was a sharp observation.
But it wasn’t entirely accurate.
I hadn’t lived in this world before. Just experienced it through other characters.

“I’ll leave it to you this time, Pasma. Save Maria.”
“Of course I’ll heed my friend’s request.”

Moving my body, he dashed out of the room and sensed Maria’s presence outside the door. He then sliced through the wall.

Watching the wall get shredded like paper, I inwardly marveled.

On the other side was a pink-haired beastkin girl covering Maria’s mouth.

Seeing this, I was about to speak, but Pasma beat me to it.

“Let Maria go, you motherf*cker.”

…Huh?
Vulgar words spewed from my mouth.

“Pasma, I didn’t tell you to swear.”
“Isn’t she a precious person? Since he dared to lay hands on someone precious, a few curses are warranted to vent my frustration, no?”

Oh my, who does he think that is?
Pasma, this kid is more foul-mouthed than I expected.

“What’s this?”

The pink cat girl covering Maria’s mouth glared at me with an immense intimidation.

“A ninja…?”

Her peculiar outfit made me frown.

It was an extremely revealing outfit.
A skintight ninja suit that showed off her figure, and stockings that seemed designed to arouse male desire – it was quite salacious.

While her appearance matched the original illustration, seeing it in reality made me feel uncomfortable.

“How unladylike of a woman!”

In the end, Pasma couldn’t hold back from shouting.

“Stop with the pointless chatter.”
“You keep mumbling nonsense… How dare you destroy the wall of the Duke’s annex?”

She drew her sword as she looked at us.
Seeming to think she should subdue us first before Maria, she released the hand covering Maria’s mouth.
In that moment, I swiftly moved.

“High-Speed Movement.”

In an instant, I snatched Maria and put some distance between us and the girl, unintentionally embracing her in the process – but without any ulterior motive.

“P-Praus…?”

Her eyes were brimming with tears. I gently wiped the tears trickling down with the back of my hand.

“Are you hurt?”
“N-No, I’m not.”
“Alright then.”

I released her and raised my sword towards the pink cat girl.

“See, it’s good that I possessed you, isn’t it?”

Aerial smirked with her arms crossed, seemingly the only one at ease. Ignoring her, I spoke.

“Prepare to defend if she attacks.”
“Got it.”
“Hey, you’re quite fast. What’s that Aura Sword? Could you be the sixth Sword Master?”
“And what are you? A prostitute? Why are you dressed like that?”
“What? A prostitute?”

Wait, why did I say that?
Panicking at Pasma’s words, I hastily tried to rectify the situation, but he opened his mouth first.

“To think you’d lay hands on a child just because you had no one else to touch.”

The aura fueled by his unwavering vengeance shone even brighter.

“I’ll kill you.”

No, I can’t let you kill her. Do you even know she’s the target of the request?

“Pasma, don’t kill her.”
“Alright. I’ll just rip off your limbs instead.”

Damn it, how is that any different from killing her?!

“How dare you call me a prostitute?!”

Clang!

Pasma, accurately reading the sword’s trajectory, blocked her dagger.

However, it wasn’t done effortlessly.
His hand gripping the sword trembled from the pink cat girl’s strength, as if his muscle fibers were about to snap. Just blocking made his forearms ache terribly.

“So you can channel mana into your weapon too, it seems.”
“Why did you think only you could do that?”

She had only channeled enough mana into her weapon to prevent it from being shattered by the Aura Sword. Unlike Pasma, she couldn’t fully form an Aura Sword.

“I’ll kill you!”
“Who’s going to kill who, now?”

Perhaps angered by her arrogant tone, the cat girl dropped the staff she was holding and tried to thrust her sword into my chest. But I dodged it nimbly and swung my blade.

Clang!
She blocked it again.

“Your speed is decent. But you lack strength, don’t you? Are you really a Sword Master?”
“…Mirage Waltz.”

The most basic form of the Mirage Waltz technique.

A skill that changed the blade’s trajectory erratically, making it impossible to tell which part of the body the sword was aimed at until it touched you.

The idea seemed to be that if strength wasn’t enough, making it impossible to perceive would prevent the opponent from blocking.

Since only mana could block an Aura Sword, even mana-infused skin was insufficient against the immense mana poured into an Aura Sword.

Fwoosh—!

Even so, Pasma’s strike didn’t reach her.
The cat girl nimbly jumped back, evading the sword strike.

“Heh… An interesting technique. I couldn’t see the sword’s trajectory. Who are you? This is fun.”

She crouched on the table like a cat, her swishing tail indicating her interest was more in me than the fight.

“I’m not interested. So let’s stop now, Urkha.”
“…How do you know my name?”
“Urkha? If it’s Urkha, then…”

So he finally realized, did he? Damn Pasma.
Just telling her to stop would have been enough. There was no need to fight.

“So she was the target of the request, huh.”
“How do you know about me?”

Urkha’s gaze changed.
Not her eyes or expression – her pupils slit vertically, becoming beast-like.

“Duke Tori told me.”
“Hah, why would you reveal that to a potential enemy… That fool.”
“My apologies, but I’m not an enemy. My presence in this annex is simply due to the Duke’s consideration.”
“…What?”
“And that’s about enough from you.”

Because I wasn’t the only one who needed to be dealt with here.
Almost simultaneously, Tina and Iris stood in front of me, glaring at Urkha.

“Lord Praus, are you alright?”
“Was it you who attacked Praus?”

Both had drawn their swords.
I hadn’t given Tina an ‘Aura’ yet, thinking it was too soon, but as a sword genius, any blade would be her strongest weapon.

“Oh? And what’s this?”

A glint appeared in her eyes as she alternated between gripping and dropping her sword.

“You think having a few more of you will be enough to defeat me? I’ve been holding back to protect this annex, but I can’t anymore.”

The daggers between her fingers suddenly ignited with flames.

Seeing that, I could finally be sure.

This girl, who had contracted with the fire spirit Ignis and possessed ninja-like abilities matching her outfit, was the S-rank adventurer Urkha that I knew.

“I’ll just burn down this whole annex. Time to di—”
“Stop it, Urkha!”

Duke Tori rushed in, inserting himself between us.

“…Tori?”

Urkha’s expression softened at the Duke’s sudden intrusion.

“Why are you here? It’s dangerous. Come over here.”
“Urkha! These people are guests I personally invited!”
“Huh…?”

She blinked in confusion. Duke Tori pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head vigorously.

“Didn’t I tell you to think before acting? You cause accidents by blindly rushing in like that!”
“Ah… Ahaha, so that’s what it was.”

Thud thud thud!

The flaming daggers clattered to the floor, extinguished.
Urkha’s pupils became round again. Scratching her head awkwardly, she gave a nonchalant apology.

“My bad, I guess.”

Though it lacked even a shred of sincerity, it was an apology nonetheless.