What, Failure to Transition!? Volume 2 Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Chapter 9 – The Hero-in-the-Making

Graff, the “hero-in-the-making”, is the second most popular adventurer in Meilgrad after Alana, the Princess Knight.

However, while Alana is well-liked by both men and women, Graff is hated by many men.

One of the reasons for this is the way his party is organized.

The party leader is, of course, Graff.

Basically, he is the vanguard of the party with his brilliant swordplay using a long sword.

He can also use a wide range of magic, meaning he can also provide offense using spells and even provide logistical support such as recovery and assistance in the rear in times of need.

(That’s a real all-rounder hero, isn’t it?)

That’s what Yoichi thought when Alana told him about the person in front of him.

“Hey, Graff, do we really need Alana right now? Why don’t we just stick with ourselves?” The one who said that was Myna, a beastman Cat Tribe member who has been assigned as their thief.

She is a slender beauty with long, supple arms and legs and large breasts despite her slim figure.

The term “thief” here does not indicate a criminal but rather a profession that is recognized as a proper occupation. To this, she is in charge of keeping an eye on the surrounding area and disarming traps for the party.

As for Myna, she is a skilled thief and has been hired by many adventurers as a temporary worker before she teamed up with Graff.

Her adventurer rank is D.

After she became a permanent party member, many men resented Graff because it meant that Myna would stop accepting requests for other parties.

“Oh, please don’t make fun of Miss Alana! Miss Alana is amazing!”

The one who refuted Myna’s words is Jessica of the beastman Dog Tribe, who mainly serves as a vanguard, being the heavy warrior she was.

She is nearly two meters tall and has a charming face, although not on the level of being eye-catching.

She also has breasts and buttocks to match her height, and because of this, she is an adventurer with many hidden fans.

Her rank is D, like Graff and Myna.

Although her fighting style is slightly different from her idol, she is also a power fighter and has a strong admiration for princess knights.

“I’m not trying to make fun of Alana……”

“Don’t address her that way!”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to make fun of you. It’s just that our party is running so well. Do we really need to add more members now?”

“Urgh…”

“I agree with Myna’s opinion.”

This time, the one who said that is the archer in charge of their rear guard, Greta the half-elf.  She is a woman of neutral beauty and modest breasts, probably due to her strong elven blood. She is still a novice adventurer, but she is already reknowned as a skilled archer.

She is also familiar with elemental magic and is in charge of recovery and assistance. Her adventurer rank is E.

Nevertheless, she despises Alana, who is of dark elf descent.

As a side note, the relationship between elves and dark elves in this world are good, but for some reason, when it comes to mixed blood, the more pure-blood they are, the nobler they think they are compared to the others with lesser blood.

Thus, Greta’s backbiting against Alana was more of her sad elf blood and not because she envied her breasts. Absolutely not because she’s jealous of her breasts.

“If you’re looking to add a new member to your team, wouldn’t a priest who specializes in recovery and assistance be a better choice?”

“No, no, no, we don’t need any additional members, do we?”

“Oh, Miss Alana, you’re always more than welcome.”

As for the last one, the mage, Meryl, she is watching all of this in a dazed but silent manner.

She is wearing a black triangular hat, a black cloak, a tube top outfit, short culottes, and long boots, but her fashion sense is a little disappointing.

Her legs, which can be seen between her culottes and long boots, look healthy, but her exposed bosom is a bit lacking.

Also, her heavy makeup made her character seem a little more out of place.

Her abilities as a mage are mediocre.

Although she is the oldest member of the party, she is often underestimated by the other members because of her abilities and how she dresses up.

Her rank is E.

As soon as Graff raised one hand toward the party members, the girls who had been making a lot of noise quieted down.

“I understand where Myna and Greta are coming from. We’re strong enough. As long as we’re active in this city, we shouldn’t have any problems going up the ranks.”

With that, Graff looked around at the members of the group and the onlookers who had somehow gathered.

Among the onlookers, it was mostly women who were watching with interest, while the rest were the men who were glancing a bit obliquely at each other with a jug or glass of beer in their hands.

“But I’m not going to stop here. I’m sure you’re aware that the Demon Lord of the North has been making some disturbing moves in the recent years.”

The volume of Graff’s voice grew a step louder.

What started out as an admonition to the members has already turned into a speech to the onlookers.

“I’m going to get stronger and come forward to defeat the Demon Lord. To that end…”

Graff then turned to Alana, and with a theatric tone of voice,

“Alana, I need your help!”

Together with that line, Graff smiled briskly.

“Kyaaa! Graff is so cool!”

“What a wonderful speech!”

“I like how Miss Alana is still unfazed by all of this….”

“Damn, you little shit. You’re so cool.”

“So cool that I’m freezing with goosebumps here!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool, cool.”

“How did you two meet?”

There were loud cheers and low groans.

The women onlookers liked his advances, but the men looked at him disapprovingly.

“And yet, you’re going to work with this unknown man! That’s a huge loss to the Meilgrad Adventurers Guild and, by extension, to humanity! I cannot allow such a thing to happen!”

“……”

Graff continued, making Alana dumbstruck.

“Well said, kid!”

What came next were shouts of agreement from the old men watcing.

Apparently, even the men who were not interested in Graff’s situation could sympathize with him in that it was such a waste that the princess knight would be partying with an unidentified, dull and weak-looking man.

But while Alana was giving him a cold stare with a dumbfounded look, Yoichi was giving Graff a warm look.

(Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a young kid talking about dreams like this.)

As a freeter, Yoichi often met young people working part-time while also steadily making a name for themselves as musicians, actors, and entertainers.

As for Graff, he has been staring at Alana for a while, but when he found out she didn’t show much of a reaction, he grew tired of it and turned his attention to Yoichi.

From here, he smiled calmly, a complete change from earlier.

“I’m a D-rank adventurer, Graff the Red Flash. I came up with this alias by myself.”

Yoichi was puzzled by the way he said it. Was it “Graff the Red Flash” or “Graff, a member of the Red Flash,” since his party name is also Red Flash?

“Uh……I’m Yoichi, from TOKOROTEN.”

Nevertheless, Yoichi also introduced himself. Yet, he isn’t as excited as before when he was caught in a cliched tempo. In fact, around this time, he’s gotten more annoyed instead and also a bit embarrassed for the other party.

To sum it up, he already felt Graff was a pain in the ass.

He was planning to threaten him with a gunshot soon as he made a direct move at him, but what he got was a young man talking about his dream instead, where he felt like the atmosphere was turning into “hang in there, young man” to the man himself.

Nevertheless, if Alana hadn’t been by his side, Yoichi might had been twisting himself in jealousy right now of Graff’s harem party status.

“So, Yoichi, I challenge you to a showdown against me!”

“I don’t wanna.”

“Huuh!?”

He was turned down so quickly that Graff made a dumb sound.

The place went quiet for a moment, but immediately, the accusations against Yoichi began to rise.

“Huh? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“What’s with this guy? He’s just a coward!”

“If you’re afraid to fight, get away from Alana!”

“Does Alana have no eyes for choosing men?”

“I think he’s trying to live off Alana. In that case, why him and not me instead!”

“Die, you coward! Just die!”

“But first, at least tell me 10 things Alana likes of you!”

As the commotion grew, a calmer Graff smiled back and raised one hand to control the fuss.

As for Alana, she just watched from a distance, still smiling without saying a word.

“Fufu……. Yoichi, did you get scared?”

“Scared? No, not at all. It’s just that Alana is not a thing, much more something you can just bet on your own.”

“Wha-“

A delicate air suddenly flowed throughout the place.

In this world, betting with women on the line is an everyday occurrence, so no one would have thought the answer would turn out as Yoichi had said.

But it was a very natural thought for Yoichi, who was well aware of the importance of respecting fundamental human rights, but it was an unexpected line of thinking for the people of this world.

And because it is, it was hard for them to argue against it.

“Mister Yoichi, don’t be so cold on him.”

It was Alana who broke the delicate atmosphere.

She walked over to Yoichi with a worried expression on her face, then with a hand on her chest,

“As you see, my body and soul all belong to Yoichi now. So I can no longer accept your request.”

She faced Graff and spoke out loud, with a deliberate smile and a hint of provocation in it.

“Wait, why are you telling them this!?”

Only a few was able to hear Yoichi’s immediate rebuke, however, majority of that was because everyone had already gone deaf from Alana’s unexpected reveal.

That, and the fact that they were also blinded by the princess knight’s lustrous smile as she spoke those lines.

Graff was also taken aback for a moment, but he quickly came back to himself in a panic.

Nevertheless, his signature smile is already gone, and it was already replaced with raised eyebrows and a mouth that was twitching all over.

“Y-you, what did you do to Alana!”

In Graff’s mind, Yoichi was already determined to be an evil man.

That there must be some unavoidable reason why Alana is with him.

Is he making her follow him by taking advantage of her weakness, or has he brainwashed her in some way?

Either way, Alana is not in a normal state.

If she were in a normal state, she wouldn’t be with such a dull man! If that’s the case, then I’m the only one who can save her!

Graff thought this to himself.

“Ah……”

But when he was asked what he had done to Alana, Yoichi couldn’t help but think of all the things he had done since their meeting.

This made his cheeks to naturally relax on the spot.

But that sparked Graff’s anger even more.

“I’ll tell you again. I want you to have a showdown with me! Regardless of Alana!”

I just want to defeat the man in front of me.

I don’t know what’s happening to Alana, but I’m sure she’ll wake up when she sees this man being defeated in such a hapless manner.

I don’t really care if she doesn’t change her mind right away after this, as in the first place, her condition to join me is after I have gotten stronger, but right now, I just want to defeat this man.

“Err……”

Having been challenged the second time, Yoichi couldn’t help but look at the woman who was the reason for their fighting, only to his disappointment when he saw her face.

It was because Alana seemed to be enjoying herself.

“As for me, I have no objection to being bet on, but if Mister Yoichi doesn’t feel like it, then it can’t be helped……or so I’d like to say, but since he has said so much, why don’t you accept his challenge in the meantime, Mister Yoichi?”

The crowd began to rise again at the Princess Knight’s words.

“Nice comeback, Alana!”

“Prepare yourself, old man!”

“If you’re afraid, I’ll take your place! But give me some of your Alana in return!”

“Don’t embarrass Alana, you old man!”

“You can just die in the ditch, old man! And die, too, Graff!”

“How far have you two gotten? Did you two do it? Did you do it? Tell me everything you know!”

The onlookers naturally wanted to know how much of a man Yoichi was, who could make the princess knight look this lovestruck.

“Graff is the extremely stubborn type of person. Therefore, it’s better if you to go all-out all at once to teach him a lesson, like beating him to a pulp or he won’t let us go.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I understand. I understand”

Alana approached Yoichi and whispered in a soft voice so that the others could not hear.

As for Yoichi, he just raised his hands in and shook his head up and down in response.

After Yoichi decided he would participate, the clamor ceased.

“So, where and how are we going to have this “showdown” of yours?”

“Of course, we’ll use the [Arena]! Follow me!”

Graff turned around his heels and started walking, followed by the members of the Red Flash.

Yoichi followed as if he had given up. Alana also began to walk alongside him, followed by the onlookers in droves.

                                                   〇●〇●

The [Arena] is the name of a magical facility set up in the training grounds of the adventurer’s guild.

It has the function of simulating false bodies of the users of the facility to fight each other, and since they are “false” bodies, even if they die, they will not affect the main body.

But to make the “false” bodies fight in the [Arena], the main body has to be unconscious first because their own minds directly control the false ones.

In short, it provided a guaranteed safe and accurate simulated battle.

Because of the safety it provides, some use the [Arena] for entertainment purposes in larger cities, but here in Meilgrad, the [Arena] exists only as part of the training facility.

It is because even though it is a convenient magic facility, it requires personnel with advanced magic technological skills and a huge amount of maintenance and upkeep costs because of its high performance and bulky size.

Also, one can’t just build an [Arena] even when they have the two requirements above. They also needed to be under a ley line or a dragon vein for it will serve as the [Arena]’s supply.

Yes, this world also has the concept of feng shui, such as earth veins and dragon veins, much like Yoichi’s original world, but such topographical effects are given more emphasis here as magic power can be clearly seen and observed.

To sum up, it’s not only the manpower and cost, but also the location that must be factored out when building an [Arena].

As for Yoichi…

(Isn’t this like high-precision virtual reality?)

… that’s what he decided to interpret when he heard the explanation of the [Arena] from Alana.

Incidentally, the guild’s reception hours have just ended, but the training grounds, including the [Arena], are still open to the public.

One can use the facility 24hrs a day, 7 days a week.

Normally, in the guilds at other towns the size of Meilgrad, the reception desk would also be open 24 hours a day. But with the location being a remote area and far away from other civilizations and the only gate leading to the outside already closed at sunset, they had no choice but to close the reception desks early.

As for the reason for closing the gates at sunset, this is because the monsters around Meilgrad increase in power and range of activities at night, making the option of leaving the city gates open a dangerous act to the townspeople living in it.

“But because of the gates’ early closing, the flow of customers was directly cut off, much more so for adventurers coming in at that time to report their quests. This caused a chain reaction of having the majority of the establishments to also close around that time, and together with it, the guild reception in Meilgrad also decided to close about two hours after sunset.”

“I see. I’ve got the gist of it now.”

Yoichi responded with amazement to the thorough explanations of Alana.

In the meantime, Graff and the other onlookers were looking at them with ridicule, saying Yoichi was a country bumpkin who didn’t know the existence of the [Arena], but Yoichi didn’t mind.

“Just to confirm, after your body becomes a “false body”, can you still take out things from your [Storage]?”

“Unfortunately, you can’t. The only things you can bring in are the ones you’re equipped with at the start.”

“Do you think the gun will work?”

“I think so. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Even magical armor with rare abilities can be perfectly reproduced inside.”

“……even though this is not a weapon of this world?”

“Hmm, now that you mention it, I’m not so sure anymore……”

“Can I set up my weapon before we start?”

“It’s not a problem. The game starts when they say “ready” and “begin”. It’s not like the battle will start once you plunge in. This is also to prevent being taken by surprise.”

“Is that so? Then I can take my time to prepare then.”

Yoichi chose his heavy machine gun from the [Infinite Storage+].

Unlike the anti-materiel rifle, even though they use the the same bullets, the heavy machine gun is not a form that can be carried; it is a stationary weapon.

It has a general use of directly suppressing an entire army in battle and is more often than not attached to vehicles and aircrafts because of their bulkiness. Other uses of it are for defending base camps and holding the line against light vehicles of enemy troops.

Therefore, using it against a single individual is only an act of insanity.

All the more in an [Arena] with no hiding spots in between them.

However, since Alana finds the man annoying, this time, Yoichi decided to be merciless just for a little bit~ so he also began setting up the tripod for the gun and assemble it entirely while they’re inside the [Infinite Storage+]. This is also to allow him to pre-position himself immediately for the one-on-one combat.

“……Uhm, are you really sure about this?’

“Like I told you before, Its going to be perfect.”

“O-okay.”

After Alana’s explanation and a brief secret discussion, Yoichi walked up to Graff.

“Are you finished?”

Seeing the man approach him, Graff immediately greeted Yoichi with a snicker.

“Yes, well, can I still have another suggestion to make?”

“You’re not going to ask me to go easy on you, are you?”

When Graff said this, the onlookers laughed, almost derisively.

“Don’t worry, it won’t kill you as long as you fight in the [Arena], though it might be uncomfortable for a country bumpkin who’s never used it before.”

“Oh, it’s not like that. As you can see, my weapon is a bit special. I don’t know if I can reproduce it in the [Arena] well.”

“Well, why don’t you give it a try before you go?”

“I’m not going to expose my hand on how it works.”

“So, what now? You’re just going to quit because you can’t use your weapon?”

“That’s fine with me if that’s the way you want to play it, but……it won’t do us good now that we’re in our current situation, isn’t it?”

“Isn’t that obvious? If you run away here, you will lose. Not only that, you will tarnish the name of Alana.”

“Oh, right. Right. I care about that. So, I have a suggestion. Why don’t we play two matches instead of one?”

“Two matches?”

“Yeah. Let’s do the first one in the [Arena] and the next one in real life.”

“……”

With Yoichi’s spontaneous speech, the people around them gasped at his words.

“……Are you insane?”

“Well, you can’t just lose without being able to use your weapon and call it a day, right?”

“What if something happens? What if you die?”

The look on Graff’s face was one of disbelief and slight trepidation as he questioned Yoichi’s sanity.

“Wow, so city folks can’t even have a serious fight without the assurance of life?”

“Wha-“

“If that’s the case, I can’t help it. Well, I won’t complain if I can’t use my weapon. It’s not like I have anything to lose.”

“Wait!”

Just when Yoichi was about to turn his heels, Graff immediately shouted back.

“All right…… I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“Oooh!”

The onlookers cheered.

Some members of the Red Flash nodded and clapped proudly, but only Meryl the Mage looked angry and ran to Graff, pulling him by the hand.

When Graff turned around, Meryl shook her head seriously to encourage him to change his mind, but Graff just snickered and shook Meryl’s hand away.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team just looked at them with dumbfounded expressions.

After a while, they went to a “materialization area“, a room filled with runes all over, and after bringing out his equipment and setting it up and signaling he was ready, Yoichi lost consciousness.

When he came to be, he was already in the other end of some kind of [Arena].

(This is really high-tech, isn’t it ……) he thought to himself as he first checked each part of his body.

“How is it, a perfect reproduction, isn’t it?”

“Well, sort of.”

“I see that you aren’t panicking. Shall we begin?”

[Ready!]

The system’s announcement echoed through the [Arena].

To this, Graff drew his long sword. As for Yoichi, he immediately began checking the tripod and the heavy machine gun on it.

([Appraisal+] is…… I can use it, okay.)

After that, he crouched down behind the gun and held the levers firmly with both hands.

Meanwhile, although Graff was smiling comfortably at Yoichi, his mind was not at peace.

What’s that weapon? What in the world can it do?

It was a weapon he had never seen before, and he had a stance he had never seen before either.

But even though it was his first time seeing it, Graff felt something unpleasant from how its tube-like thing was pointing at him.

(Is it some kind of magic tool? Is there magic coming out of that tip?)

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think I’d better distance myself from the end of the tube and its extension, Graff added to his thoughts.

[Begin!]

At the starting signal, Graff quickly jumped to the right.

And as he planned, he quickly went outside the aim of the tube, stepped into the air as soon as he landed, and aimed for the finishing blow.

I’m not going to let my guard down because my opponent is using an unknown weapon.

I’ll put everything I had into the first blow!

However, as if it knew what Graff was going to do from the beginning, the tip of the tube changed its angle and caught Graff’s figure in the air right away.

Drrrrr! A low, continuous gunshot sounded.

As for what happened, Yoichi used [Appraisal+] to read Graff’s actions and followed his figure.

He waited until Graff’s figure was about to land, then pulled the trigger.

The bullets shot out at full auto fire flew towards Graff as if they were being sucked in.

For added information, the bullets used in Yoichi’s heavy machine gun are almost the same caliber as those used in an anti-materiel rifle that can kill a one-eyed bear with a single shot.

By the standards of Yoichi’s original world, it is powerful enough to pierce through an armored car.

And now, bullets with that kind of firepower were being fired at close range, at nine shots per second over a single human body at 100% accuracy thanks to [Appraisal+].[1]

Yoichi had been pulling the trigger for almost three seconds.

After the rain of bullets had ceased, there was nothing left but pieces of flesh and iron where Graff’s body had stood, and soon these “debris” disappeared.

“Hyaaaaa!!!”

What came next was Graff’s scream from the “materialization room”.

                                                  .

                                                  .

Graff was dead after the first shot, his body half-destroyed.

Thankfully as a safety measure in the [Arena], the link between the “false body” and the mind gets instantly broken when the “false body” receives a fatal wound, so he instantly awoke before his body got mangled to pieces.

Even so, he was still able to watch the entire scene as his figure was cruelly destroyed in the [Arena].

When he saw that there were only pieces of flesh left where his “false body” had been standing, he felt an inexplicable sense of fear and screamed pitifully.

His eyes met Yoichi’s false body in the [Arena], who noticed the scream.

This was when Graff had utterly shut up.

The match is over.

However, the result was so horrible that not even a single cheer went up.

(Have I gone too far?)

When Yoichi woke up in his main body after his link with the false body was broken, he felt a different atmosphere in the gazes directed at him.

It was fear, awe, and reproach.

After all, no matter how brash an opponent Graff was, what he did to him was still too much.

But Alana was the only one who smiled proudly as she walked up to Yoichi.

“Mister Yoichi, you did a great job.”

“Ah, yes. But I think I went a little overboard, though?”

To Yoichi’s question, Alana just shook her head lightly with a smile still remaining on her face.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Everyone is just confused by the new sight. The inhabitants of the frontier, especially those in the adventurer’s guild, are strong. I’m sure some of them will come to recognize Mister Yoichi’s power from now on.”

“Is that so?”

“Take a good look around you.”

Alana came close to his ear and whispered the last line quietly.

While most of the gazes directed at him are fearful and accusatory, Yoichi noticed that some of them are also filled with a hint of curiosity.

Perhaps they are interested in the weapon Yoichi is holding.

“But as expected, Mister Yoichi’s own [Bound Weapon] is spectacular. It’s always a fearsome power to see it in action.”

Alana tells this to Yoichi in a deliberately loud voice.

After the phrase “Yoichi’s own [Bound Weapon]” sounded, the unsettling atmosphere of the previous moment faded at once.

As for those still interested, Yoichi decided to apply a light [Appraisal+] to their history and keep a watchful eye on them.

“Well, at least after this, the number of people messing with us will be greatly reduced. Which is good!”

To this, Yoichi checked the remaining ammunition in his heavy machine gun, only to be amazed it hadn’t depleted even a single round.

(Come to think of it, if I ran out of ammo, will it be simulated as well? But seeing the results, I think it’s possible.)

Amidst a low murmur from the crowd, a woman ran out to them.

It was Meryl, a mage and a member of the Red Flash, and she rushed over to Graff with a sad expression and hugged him on the shoulder right away.

“Graff! Oh, my li’l Graff!”

As for Graff himself, he was drooling and with a frightened look on his face, his eyes unfocused.

“Graff! You a’ight? Graff, hey, talk to me!”

Seeing Graff’s unresponsive state, Meryl then turned to Yoichi and scowled at him.

“Y-you! What’cha do to my li’l Graff, you bastard!”

Her sorrowful cry of hatred echoed through the training grounds.

(Countryside accent?)

For added explanation, Meryl is speaking in a dialect with a very strong accent, but Yoichi’s [Language Comprehension+] translated it in a way that he thought was a “countryside accent”.

In the first place, Meryl doesn’t speak Japanese.

“D’ match was suppos’d to be decided on d’ first hit! You dun’ ‘ve ta tear him up completely, do ya?”

Meryl continued to shout at Yoichi, still hugging Graff’s shoulders as she continued her accusations.

“Ah, sorry about that.”

As she was correct at the part that he went overboard, Yoichi also apologized, in all honesty.

It was then when Alana intervened between Yoichi and Meryl.

“So, what about the second round?”

Yes, this duel was supposed to be a two-round game.

The first round was to be fought in the [Arena], and the second round was to be fought without using the [Arena].

“U……a……”

No [Arena] for the second round. This meant that what happened just now would become a reality.

When he heard this, Graff clung to Meryl in a way that hid him behind her and only moaned briefly as he rattled and shook.

“I dun think he can do dis anymore! Duncha see what he jus did!?”

“In that case, should I call it an automatic win for Mister Yoichi then?”

“Do as you please!”

“Please wait.”

It was then when Greta the Half-elf, also a member of the Red Flash, disagreed with Meryl’s admission that Yoichi had not yet won the battle.

“This match was initially proposed by our Mr. Graff. It would be unacceptable to us if we were to lose without a fight.”

“Wat da hell r yu talking ’bout!?”

Meryl looked at Greta as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

He looked at the other team members as if to ask for help, but from the look on their faces, they seemed to generally agree with Greta.

“Ar yu guys insane?”

“You’re the one who’s insane here, Meryl. Mr. Graff is a hero-in-the-making. Sure, he can lose a fight, but he can’t just admit defeat without fighting.”

“She’s right, ……. If it’s okay with you, Miss Alana, I’d like to ask you to fight our second round on another day.”

“Oh, Miss Alana, we beg you, please reconsider….”

Alana’s brow furrowed for a moment, but she only shook her head lightly and looked at Yoichi.

“I am not in a place to say anything here. It’s up to Yoichi and Graff to decide.”

“Ah-“

“Weyt a minute!”

Meryl interrupted When Yoichi was about to speak.

“If he fights dat m’nster outside d’ arena, Graff will really die f’r real!”

(The monster isn’t me, it’s my weapon. ……, but I can’t deny it.)

Meryl wanted to prevent the second fight at all costs, but the other members were not convinced.

“The first game took us by surprise, but now that we know what we’re up against, we can fight back, right?”

“That’s right. It’s not cool to keep losing like this.”

“I don’t want you to end up on the losing side, Mr. Graff.”

“Don’cha understand what you jus saw? Dat’s not something you can deal with afta one or two fights!”

“Even so, there’s no way we ‘re going to lose this without fighting!”

“But ‘f he dies, it be ull f’r nut’ing!”

“At least the honor of the Red Flash will be preserved!”

“Wat da……?”

Meryl was speechless.

What’s more, the two other members didn’t even find any fault in the last line, which made her even angrier.

“T’ da hell with yur honor! Life’s a gift!”

“You should be ashamed of yourself for saying that, country bumpkin!”

“Aah~. Ehem. I’m sorry to interrupt your excitement, but can I have a word?”

As if to admonish Meryl and Greta for arguing with each other, Yoichi interrupted them in a slightly prolonged tone.

“I’m the one who proposed the second match ——No, that’s not it. I only proposed to him a second match just in case I could not use my weapon properly in the [Arena]. It doesn’t matter whether I win or lose. And considering the results of which my weapon worked properly up to the end, I say that the need for a second match can be considered null and void. What do you say, Graff?”

Hearing Yoichi’s suggestion, Graf did not look Yoichi in the eye, but just nodded repeatedly, still clinging hard onto Meryl.

“Wha- Mr. Graff, you’re okay with that?”

Greta couldn’t believe what she was seeing, making her ask the second time. But to Greta’s question, Graff didn’t answer. He just looked away, still wobbling and shaking.

“Graff!”

“Hey, Graff, I think that’s a bit of a lame move.”

“Gee, I’m disappointed in you now….”

After being blamed once again by the three members, Graff finally opened his mouth.

“……I dun wanna die.”

“““Huh…?”””

“I don’t want to die in this place! Uwaaaahhhh!”

Graff buried his face in Meryl’s chest and cried like a child.

The members of the group reacted in different ways to this.

The thief Myna shrugged her shoulders with a dumbfounded expression, while the heavy warrior Jessica just let out a big sigh and also slumped her own.

Greta, the archer, had a look of mixed anger and disappointment on her face, as her face was already red and her shoulders were shaking softly.

“Oh, poor Graff. …… Dun’ be ‘fraid.. I’ll protect yu. …..”

As for Meryl, she held Graff to her chest, patted his head a few times, and then picked him up in a princess hug.

“The front’r is a scary place. How ‘bout we go back to d’ countryside, relax and jus plow the fields, huh?” she continued to soothe Graff as they left the training grounds.

The fact that she could easily carry Graff, who was two sizes larger than her, suggested that she was using body-enhancing magic on herself.

“Hey, you two! Wait!”

Greta, still unconvinced, tried to stop them, but Alana grabbed her by the shoulders and stopped her.

“Come on, guys, let’s cut the crap.”

The princess knight gave an expressionless stare at them when she said those lines, but even they could tell in her eyes that she was furious.

Greta also realized that the stare was entirely directed at her, and her body sagged in fear, and she was unable to speak.

Noticing the other party’s trembling reaction, this was then when Alana removed her hand from her shoulder. Only from here was Greta able to breathe in relief, but her legs were still shaking and trying their best to keep her from slumping.

However, upon looking at their surroundings once again, she noticed a great change in the eyes staring at them.

The gazes were now accusing and scornful, much different compared to earlier, making her suddenly feel uncomfortable.

“Let’s go!”

Myna, unable to resist the stares any further, was the first to walk off. Greta and Jessica followed suit, and just like that, the entire party of the “Red Flash” left the training grounds.

(This is all Mr. Graff’s fault for behaving in such an unworthy manner!)

That’s what Greta interpreted as the cause of the “unworthy” stares directed at them.

After Myna and the others had left, the onlookers also began to disperse. To this, Alana finally approached her man.

“Good work, Mister Yoichi.”

“Whew, glad that’s over. I’m really tired in many ways.”

” Well, thanks to your hard work today, there will be a lot less trouble for us in the future.”

“I really hope so. But I think it won’t be easy.”

Yoichi just shakes his head in exasperation, staring at the exit where his opponents had just been.

“Well, in any case, shall we go home too?”

“Yeah, good call. Wait, where are we going? Do you have a place to stay?”

“Ah, right, you have that……But how about we go to my inn for a change of pace?”

And so, just like that, the two members of the TOKOROTEN also left the adventurer’s guild and headed for the inn Alana was talking about.

Translator Notes

[1]. I changed the numbers from the raws from 20 rounds per second to 9 rounds per second for accuracy.

I am not a gun nut, so I might be wrong on this, but what Yoichi (or the author) is referring to must be and ONLY be the M2 Browning HMG, for the below reasons:

• It’s the only .50 cal HMG possessed by Japan according to Wikipedia,
• The bullets used were clearly specified to be anti-materiel
• Some of the weapons Yoichi acquired are identified in the earlier chapters to be of US Origin.
• It was the only .50 cal HMG that required a Tripod to operate (Others have a tripod but weren’t .50 cal. There are others like the Japanese Type 1 HMG, but that was exclusively used as aircraft guns and installed inside fighter aircraft wings. Others use smaller rounds.)

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