Dukas glared down at the knife stuck in the ground near his feet, irritation plain on his face.
He'd already decided—once he had Mineha stripped naked, he'd punch and kick her. Or maybe use a whip instead.
"Huh? A knife?"
The knife vanished, and a single boy materialized in its place.
It was the Changing from the Relic, Knife Magic.
Before him stood a boy with blue hair and a red scarf wrapped around his neck.
Without a word, the boy swung at Dukas right in front of him—but something stopped the blow.
An invisible barrier. The boy's fist froze just short of Dukas.
But.
"Vibrasion."
"Ugh, another meddler? Give it a rest already."
Crack—a fissure raced through the air, and the barrier shattered in an instant.
The boy's frozen fist drove deep into Dukas's abdomen, tearing through.
"Guaaah—?!"
Dukas let out an ugly groan. The boy didn't stop—he punched Dukas flying.
Dukas bounced once, almost comically, then went tumbling.
"…………"
The boy turned to Mineha's crumpled form, took a small bottle from his pouch, and poured its contents onto her pained face.
"Urgh… wait, Wof?"
Mineha blinked in confusion.
"I'm fine now. By the way, Mineha — what is that talking piece of moving garbage?"
"Wof...?"
"Well, it won't be moving for much longer. Just a real piece of garbage."
"...Wof?"
Wof was furious.
It was a coincidence. A fluke.
He'd gone to tell the witch staying at the inn about the Blue-Green Crystal.
That was why he'd parted ways with Bid and the others.
He didn't like crowded streets, so he'd been taking a quieter route — and that's when he'd witnessed it.
Anna Kreutzen and Hoss were both on the ground.
Worse, Anna Kreutzen was covered in blood.
And Mineha, bruised and battered, had her hair seized by a stranger who was dragging her along.
The moment he saw that, he decided — the man... this piece of living garbage had to die.
I don't care if he's some noble's son or the offspring of some high-ranking authority.
He'd made up his mind, so he'd kill him. But not before making him suffer first.
Feel every last bit of the pain Mineha, Anna Kreutzen, and Hoss had endured.
"Haah... haah... haah... wh-what just happened... BLEEUUGH!?"
Clutching his stomach, the piece of living garbage staggered to his feet and vomited.
Really is garbage through and through.
"Mineha. I'm counting on you for the two of them."
"O-OK. Got it."
I handed her the small bottle and walked right up to the piece of living garbage.
Still throwing up. Living garbage. Really is living garbage.
"Bleagh... bleagh... haaah... im... impossible, impossible... the barrier..."
"Hey."
"There's no way... a brat like that... wh-where's my sword!? Where's Vinu!?"
"Answer me. Living garbage."
"Shut up, I'm—"
I slapped the living garbage across the face.
The attack landed like normal. Sword? Oh, I see. Without that, he can't put up a barrier.
"Can't even answer, huh. That's why you're living garbage."
I slapped him again. Nice garbage sound.
"You... you little—"
Living garbage turned crimson in the face and lunged at me. I dodged with ease.
Counter. I threw a straight right into his face.
He screamed and his nose started bleeding. Might be broken.
"Really. Garbage. What happened? Thought you were tough? Or can you only beat up women and kids? No wait — only women, right? Garbage."
"Blbhh... m-my... s-sword..."
Clutching his bleeding nose, the living garbage staggered over to pick up his sword.
He held his sword toward me while clutching his nose.
That sword... Could it be an OOPArt? I could sense something from it. Well, I guess it doesn't matter.
I punched the garbage. Something blocked it. Just as I expected.
"[Vibration]."
"Ish... ish garbage... You little..."
My fist vibrated like white noise.
The space around it shattered like broken glass.
And then my fist connected with the garbage's cheek.
About two of his teeth went flying.
He screamed, groaned, and rolled on the ground. Annoyed by the noise, I kicked him in the stomach.
"Shut up. Garbage."
I kicked him in the stomach again. He threw up again. Seriously, garbage is hopeless.
"Ggh... guhh... ehhh..."
I thought so, but this guy really wasn't strong. Weaker than your average thug.
If not for that sword's barrier, he'd literally be garbage.
A barrier, huh. I vaguely remembered from my past life that things like that were weak against vibrations.
They're tough against direct impacts, but fragile against attacks that shake everything at once.
So when I hit him while wrapped in [Vibration] and it actually broke through — that caught me a little off guard.
Well, a situation like this is pretty rare, so in that sense barriers are almost invincible.
If [Vibration] hadn't worked, I would have switched to [Generous] and [
Cosmic
Arm
]
— and hammered them down.
If even that didn't work, I'd use [Generous]'s [Reivform].
For some reason, I had a feeling [Banish] wouldn't work.
I had absolutely no intention of holding back.
I was definitely going to make this trash suffer before disposing of it.
"Aah, my shoes got all dirty from your puke."
With that, I stomped on the trash's face.
I ground my sole into it, twisting.
Because I haven't forgotten the shoe print on Mineha's face.
"Owwww! Owwww! Gruuuuh!"
"Come to think of it, doesn't stepping on trash actually make it cleaner?"
I couldn't help but laugh, but I didn't stop trampling.
I happened to notice a sword lying there. Long and thin, with no crossguard — a slightly curved white blade, like a horn.
Just a gut feeling, but I had the sense that this sword should be destroyed.
Looking at this sword, I felt an indescribable revulsion. I wanted to destroy it.
In that case, Sword Breaker would be the best tool for the job.
(No. Wof. If you want to destroy that Vinu, use a knife from a different sea.)
Huh? A voice suddenly echoed inside my head. And I recognized it.
The Knife Goddess!?
(Only a knife from a different sea can destroy the daughter of that sword's goddess.)
The sword goddess's daughter!? Oh — so that's what this is.
Daughters born from the fragments of the Sword Goddess, shattered in the war among the gods. That explains it.
Wait — does that mean I'm allowed to destroy it? The other party is technically a goddess, after all.
(It's fine. Rather, please destroy it. That sword. Vinu is a blight upon this world.)
A blight… If it has a will, then it's been lending its power to garbage.
I feel the same revulsion toward this sword. I know leaving it around would be dangerous.
I stomp hard on the garbage's face, draw the knife from a different sea, and pull it free.
The ragged blade splits into three octopus tentacles.
"Kyaaa!?"
A cute shriek rang out.
I looked — Mineha and Anna Kreutzen were recoiling in alarm.
"Wh-what in the… That's an octopus, that is."
Hoss asked nervously. But when he said "octopus"… there was something about the way he said it.
It carried the nuance of someone who'd just found a good ingredient.
I moved the tentacles, wrapping them around the sword. The garbage at my feet was making a fuss, so I stomped down even harder.
If it makes noise again, I'm thinking of Banishing at least one of its arms or legs.
Ugh — the sensation of the sword coming through the tentacles is… oddly disgusting.
It feels like touching raw, living flesh, even though it's made of ceramic.
What a weird thing. Let me just break it already.
I put more force into the tentacles, and the sword snapped and crumbled apart. When I let go, it dissipated without a trace.
Then a change came over the garbage.
I had a bad feeling and quickly backed away.
—UgaagghhhwhhhhyyyVinnuuuuu—
The garbage began melting into a goopy mess.
The flesh, the organs, everything melted away until only a skeleton remained. Then it dissipated just like the sword.
Only the cloak and clothes were left behind.
—Dukas…
Hoss murmured softly as he stepped closer.
—You knew him?
—…Back in the Heisen days, we teamed up a few times. He was definitely no saint, and I always figured he'd die some ugly death. But even for the Dukas I knew, this is too cruel.
That pile of garbage — so his name was Dukas. Well, whatever.
Mineha had cut down Anna Kreuz… whoa, the clothes. The maid outfit.
The cut was in a bad spot.
From the slash in Anna Kreuz's maid outfit, bits of blue were peeking through.
Did the cut go through her bra too? She apparently had one of those figures that looked slimmer in clothes.
The swell was… quite substantial. No, no. I averted my eyes.
If she'd been anyone else, she'd be dead. Thank goodness she was a Minos Doll.
Still, I had a feeling things would've been dangerous without the elixir.
"Hm?"
All of a sudden, I sensed three large presences — just for an instant.
Not nearby. Probably far off.
They felt close to the swords I'd destroyed.
"………………"
Mineha-san glanced at the tattered clothes, shifted her gaze to me, then quickly looked away.
"Let's go."
"Right."
"……"
"……"
We left the area. Nobody said a single word on the walk back.
Mineha kept her head down, and Anna Kreutz wasn't smiling either.
When we returned to the inn, Mineha-san and Anna Kreutz went straight to their room.
I considered saying something, but thought better of it. I'd leave them be for now.
I gave the witch a quick explanation — she'd already figured out something was off.
Bid-san, and for some reason Gimnema-san and Shardina, had all come back with us, so I filled them in too.
I skipped the part about the sword goddess's daughter and all that. It would only cause confusion.
I'd talk to the witch about it later.
Shardina headed to Anna Kreutz's room.
Since she's the same Minosdoll, I'd leave it to her.
"………"
Seeing them like that, I gritted my teeth hard.
That piece of trash. I should have hurt them more and more.
I should have hacked apart their arms and body in a loop, recovering with elixir each time.
Even so, it had been a while since I looked down on someone as garbage.
By the time evening came, Mineha still hadn't left her room.
The fact that she hadn't eaten was... worrying.
I stood in front of the room Mineha was staying in.
Knock, knock — I rapped on the door.
No answer.
"Mineha?"
I knocked but got no answer at all. There was no sense of anyone being there.
The door was... oh, it was unlocked. That's way too careless.
I slowly entered the room, calling her name.
"She's not here..."
Mineha had vanished at some point.
"S-Something terrible! Anna Kreutz isn't anywhere, desu!"
Shardina was making a fuss. Anna Kreutz was gone too.
Both of them — where did they go?