Author: Kiriya Kadzuki | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 1336 characters |
Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1412 words |
Proofreader: Silva | Editor(s): Deximus_Maximus |
Reesha held two daggers in both her hands and prepared herself for the fight.
Back when Schenna had that encounter with Luthors, Reesha had also shown them a portion of her true strength, but now that they saw it again, it was clearly different from other adventurers.
“To see Reesha acting like that might be a pretty rare sight.”
“That’s true… I can’t imagine a regular situation where this would happen.”
Luthors had experienced it herself one time, but Reesha’s style of fighting was commonly known as one that tried to restrain her enemies, like a snake coiling around their limbs.
Always matching the pace of her attacks to her opponents’ timing, then taking the lead before her opponent even realized what happened. That was Reesha’s style of fighting.
“This is the first time I see someone dual-wield daggers. Are all the elves from this generation like that?”
“I came up with this style myself. Longer swords are heavy, so this is better for someone old like me.”
“I see. Then I’ll quickly send you off to rest!”
After her excited shout, Petra kicked off the ground and swung her wooden sword at Reesha’s chest, but Reesha evaded just barely.
Reesha then swung her daggers in a cross pattern, but Petra parried it with her wooden sword.
“If the fight continues for long enough, it’ll turn to Reesha’s favor. Short-tempered opponents always fall quickly against her.”
Luthors began commentating on the fight playing out in front of them while recalling how she had been that way herself.
But if Reesha lost that fight, there would be no one left to hold Petra back.
And if that were to happen, she would leave the stage and run berserk through the elf district.
Afterward, Schenna and the others would have to step up to pay for the repairs needed before being banned from entering the district again, and Reesha would not let them off the hook with just a small scolding either.
“You actually got quite a bit of skill in you, but why don’t you just give you your sword already?”
“If you want me to do that, beg for it while crawling on the ground.”
“Well, that’s a bit extreme. I thought you had come to this realm with a specific mission though? What do you think would happen if those up there knew you went berserk here.”
Reesha fended off the wooden sword with her daggers while Petra’s expression began clouding over.
Reesha knew Petra’s true identity.
The reason she was in the restaurant that time last week was to deliver Petra’s residence permit and identification.
That time, Petra herself had told her about where she came from and what her mission was.
When Petra’s movements began to dull, Reesha tried to make her stop again.
“Ah, if I remember correctly, I think I heard your superior was going to come around too.”
“What?!”
Reesha pointed with her finger behind Petra, who turned to see what was behind her unable to hide her shock.
Taking advantage of that situation, Reesha instantly swept forward and snatched the wooden sword away.
“I’m sorry, I think I was just seeing things.”
As soon as her sword was taken away, Petra returned to her usual self as she put her hands to her head.
She absentmindedly surveyed the cheering audience while trying to figure out what had happened to her.
“It seems you’re back to normal. I know deceiving someone isn’t perceived as a knightly thing to do, so forgive me.”
Reesha put her daggers away and led Petra away from the ring.
Schenna and Luthors left their seats as well and went to meet up with Reesha.
“I…I’m so sorry! I was only able to understand what was going on in the ring after I checked my shared memories.”
Petra was bowing down to Reesha and Schenna.
Hearing her wording and after seeing the change in her behavior earlier, she had a rough idea of the situation.
“Do you have a split personality?”
“Yes… Ten thousand years ago, before I became a goddess, I used to be a very delusional swordswoman that walked through the continent.”
According to Petra’s story, all those years back she became very famous like that, and then one day she received a divine summoning to become a goddess, which she accepted.
Apparently, back then the realm of the gods was different as well and they had a shortage of workers, and that was why they recruited Petra and made her work reincarnating people.
When she accepted, she was completely unaware that it would signal the beginning of hell for her. And not even one week after her new work began, she raised her sword in protest against her superior, in retaliation, her sword was taken from her and Grana was tasked with sealing it away. As a result of that, Petra’s personality split in two and the hardworking and calm self she presented now was born.
When they had solved the mystery about her split personality, Schenna asked the next important question, why had she appeared in the tournament in the first place?
“Why were you there in the first place? Was it some ridiculous reason like your warrior blood telling you to do it or something like that?”
“There were a lot of tasty looking sweets in the west side, so I thought this could be a quick way to earn money and go back there to buy some.”
“Huh? I thought I had given you enough money so you wouldn’t have to worry about that.”
“…I had already spent all of it buying and eating other sweets.”
That goddess apparently had no sense of spending management at all.
Schenna gave her another allowance again with an exhausted expression
“I feel like some higher being should really scold you considering you’re supposed to be in charge of managing the reincarnation of souls. But can you promise you’ll manage your own money better from now on?”
“Uhh…I’ll be more careful.”
After Petra assured them that, they moved to the next topic, how to deal with the aftermath of Petra’s acts.
They would obviously get charged with the cost of repairs, but it would not be surprising if they were banned from entering it again after that.
With cold sweat running down her back, Schenna’s eyes met Reesha’s as she began apologizing.
“I’ll pay for the repairs of the site as soon as we’re back in the city. I’m very sorry for all the trouble caused by my colleagues.”
“Well, there were no casualties since she was just using a wooden sword, so that’s a small saving grace for her all things considered. This was also a nice break from all the paperwork I normally do and I could go all out, so I would say we’re even.”
In the end, the audience had been really entertained, and Reesha did not seem to be blaming them too much.
Each of the four sides of the district had a bronze statue holding a sword.
Reesha began explaining the reason why they were there to Petra.
“The legend of the Sword Goddess Petra is passed down here. It’s said that around ten thousand years ago, she passed through here and protected the people from a great calamity, was that you?”
“Yes…that probably was me. I remember the bards of the time began singing poems of how I drove the armies invading from the other continent back to their country. I didn’t think they would still know about that today.”
“So it really was you. I had a hunch when I heard your name the first time I met you. I had heard that name from the statues here you see. But well, then it’s an honor for us if the goddess Petra participated in the tournament.”
The legend of the Sword Goddess Petra was pretty famous and Schenna also had heard it before.
How the valiant swordswoman Petra charged against the thousands of enemy armies and drove them away, sealing her name in history as a hero.
But Schenna never thought that Petra could be the same person as the Petra she met.
And while it was true she might have been a hero in the past, seeing that goddess crave for sweets so much made her secretly feel like the value of the statues had decreased immensely.