The Tale of the Teapot Hero’s Revenge

Chapter 13 - Shatter the Blade, Crush the Enemy

Even though it's called the Royal Capital, just a little walk outside the city gates, untouched nature spread out. And further into the forest, there were plenty of monsters could be found.

I was currently surrounded by a pack of werewolves in the forest just a little away from the royal capital. These beasts should be something adventurers should be dealing with. Unfortunately, we're in wartime, hence they're left unchecked.

There were five of them, and they kept attacking with spears they made by just shaving off some wood. On the other hand, I had my right hand bare, and in my left hand, I gripped a single-edged sword with the other side looking like a comb. The sword was called Sword Breaker.

The werewolves attacked with uncoordinated movements, attacking haphazardly. It's just like Balge-san said, they made good practice partners. They came at me one by one, making it easy to receive their attacks and counterattack.

I blocked the spears with the notch of the Sword Breaker. Then, I touched the enemy's face with my right hand and poured in magic power.

"Crushing Blast!"

*BANG!*

The contents of their heads boiled, and subsequently burst.

To make it it's easier to imagine, I gave this version of exploding magic a name.

Then it's just a repetitive process of evading, receiving, touching the head, and making it burst. In no time, all the werewolves were wiped out.

"I'm impressed. You can really kill them just by touching."

Balge-san, who was watching from the tree, jumped down. This training method was his suggestion to take advantage of the blessing of the hero where the more lives the hero took, the stronger the hero became. There was a limit to the number of humans one could kill, but there’s such no restrictions when it came to monsters that kept appearing from nowhere. The enhancement from killing weak monsters was only a little, though.

"If you keep doing this, you'll become decently strong."

"Decently strong, is that enough? I've heard that the king is incredibly powerful."

"He may be a tyrant, but he's also a hero. From the founding of the kingdom, he was at the forefront leading the troops and wielding his sword himself. …My older brother is said to be the best knight in the country, and even though he's always after his life, Brutogyu is still alive. So, there’s that."

"So he's much stronger than that knight."

"I don't want to admit it, but yeah."

As I was now, the probability of winning in a one-on-one fight against him was practically zero. That's why I was here, defeating monsters and trying to become stronger, even if it's just a little.

"But well, individual strength is powerless before the force of numbers. Unless you possess an extraordinary power that defies human knowledge."

"I should acquire an extraordinary power...?"

"Idiot. I'm saying a revolution can't be done alone."

I was called an idiot. Well, I'm not particularly smart, so...

"You're not alone. You can rely on us a little."

"Yes, I understand, Balge-san."

"That's it. Don’t use honorifics, just call me Balge. I feel a bit of distance when you use honorifics."

Of course, I had no intention of getting along with him but I couldn't just say that, right?

"Everyone calls me either ‘big brother’ or ‘leader’, so choose one and call me that. And no honorifics."

"Alright. Then let's move on to the next training quickly, Leader."

Ah, he seemed satisfied with that. He's easy to handle, this man.

"Yeah, now it's about how to use that thing. I'll teach you thoroughly, so be prepared."

The thing he’s referring to was what I was holding in my left hand. The Sword Breaker. It's a special type of single-edged sword with grooves on the other side. Normally, Balge-san, no, Leader used a short dagger, but mine was special. It's a bit long, as long as a regular sword. And the blade was thick.

"Since you don't use weapons for attacks, you can handle something a little longer and heavier even with your right hand free."

With a touch, I could make living creatures explode. I didn't need to swing a heavy sword and aim accurately, just a touch was enough to deliver a fatal blow. That's why I didn't need a powerful weapon. Instead, the problem was the opponent's weapon. I had to either evade their attack and touch them or break their weapon with this thing.

"Tangle the opponent's weapon around the groove and twist it with all your strength. When it comes to a bare-handed fight, there's no one who can beat you. Just touching them means victory."

"But this is quite heavy. It feels weighty."

"It's made of Damascus steel, a special material that can even support an axe. I'll train you until you can handle it like your own limbs. Be prepared."

"Ugh... Please go easy on me."

It was already evening by the time my training with the leader was finished, and so we returned to the shop. I wanted to ask if the shopkeeper, Leader, could really keep the shop open like this, but it seemed he needed to be hardly ever there. It's actually Strah who ran the shop, and she seemed to be struggling.

"I'm back."

As soon as I opened the door to the shop and stepped inside...

"...Huh!!"

Beato came running towards me with tremendous force and jumped on me. He hugged me tightly. Just as I thought, she's like a dog.

"Listen, can we do this later? I'm tired right now."

"Yeah, do it Beato-chan. Kyrie-kun will take over the shop now."

Since I was dressed as a man, Strah called me Kyrie-kun, which I felt complicated about.

"Um, Strah, let me rest for a bit since I'm tired."

"You will take over, right?"

"...Fine."

She's glaring at me intensely. Was she a demon or something? Strah was merciless.

"Then, Leader, let's go inside the shop... Oh, wait! He's not here!"

"He ran away, that brat."

Her temples were throbbing. She's definitely a demon, this kid.

But I could understand why Strah was angry. Beato couldn't speak, so she couldn't attend to customers. She could only do things like stocking and cleaning. Everything else was being handled by Strah alone.

"So, Kyrie-kun, can you take care of the shop? I'm really busy preparing dinner."

"I understand. Leave it to me. Hey, Beato, it's time to let go now."

"...!"

Even if she gave me such a disappointed face, I still detached Beato from me and headed towards the checkout counter. There were quite a few customers in line, considering it's such a small shop. Strah hurriedly retreated to the living area in the back, and Beato started flicking the goods with a broom.

***Read at novelworldtranslations.blogspot.com***

This kind of daily life continued for about a week. One day, when I returned from training together with the Leader around dusk, Joanna was in the shop.

I never knew where this person was from morning till evening. Sometimes she casually dropped by in the evening and stayed the night, and sometimes she just went somewhere.

"Oh, you finally came back, Leader."

"...Is it something important?"

"Yes, we'll discuss it in the basement."

The Leader suddenly became unusually serious, more serious than ever. He quickly closed the shop and started ushering the customers out. Even though it's quite busy.

Oh, it seemed the reason why there were many customers was because they're apparently coming for Strah. And some customers came to see Beato as well. Since having the Leader as the shopkeeper drastically reduces the number of customers, recently Strah had been active in the shop, which made me feel a bit sorry for the Leader.

We gathered in the basement meeting room. Strah was also here, of course. She's also a member of the resistance, though one wouldn't think so by looking at her.

"The stack of letters we stole from Carion's mansion the other day. We identified the high-ranking generals who are supporters of Brutogyu."

"Great! If we assassinate these guys, we can gradually undermine Brutogyu’s power!"

Joanna handed over a list with names lined up on parchment. Leader looked through it and seemed a bit excited.

"Now, this is the important part. One of them, Lieutenant General Neil Deltal, will go hunting tomorrow. He will take a few people and head to the outskirts of the royal capital."

"Neil... I see. So we've got a chance to get in on the action."

"That's right."

"Alright, let's gather our forces and have a strategy meeting right now. Kyrie, you'll also participate in the ambush. Show them the presence of a hero and make Brutogyu tremble!"

"...Understood."

My first battle, huh? I think I had become considerably stronger in the past few days, so I had confidence that I could match any regular knight. Besides, if they're Brutogyu’s supporters, killing them was more than welcome. This was the first step towards my revenge.

***

The next morning, before the sun rose.

A spy informed King Brutogyu of a certain information. There was a plot to assassinate General Neil.