Previously: The women’s competition for the right to confess to Zenos entered the second stage, with the scores still neck and neck.
The women, competing behind the scenes for the right to confess their feelings to Zenos, headed next to a booth run by an orc.
“Will the boss participate, too?”
“Yes. I absolutely cannot afford to lose.”
Reve took the lead.
In front of the female orc chieftain, who was slowly rotating her neck, was a boulder so large it would take a full embrace to hold.
“By the way, what is the orcs’ game?”
“Hah, you’ll know it when you see it, Zofia.”
Reve said matter-of-factly, cracking her knuckles.
“The game is to see how many chops it takes to break this rock with a knife-hand strike.”
“Huh? What kind of game is that?”
Ringa thinks that’s impossible to do easily.
“Th-that’s…”
The remaining Zofia, Ringa, and Lily looked flustered.
“What, you can’t even break a rock of this size? It’s a basic skill for a maiden.”
“What kind of maiden…?!”
Zenos blurted out his retort. In front of him, Reve slowly raised her right hand. With a shout of “Haa!”, she unleashed a vertical knife-hand strike.
A loud crash echoed, and the rock shattered into pieces.
“Hahahaha! Did you see my feminine power?!”
“What kind of feminine power is that?! Damn, this brute strength!”
Ringa thinks she’s definitely not the type you’d want to marry.
“N-nooo…”
“Was that last groan from Lily…?”
Zofia stood in front of a newly delivered rock. After taking a few breaths, she whispered.
“<<Scale Harden: Lizard Shield>>”
The next moment, her raised right arm was covered in bristling scales. The rock shattered as she brought down her fist, but several chunks remained. In the end, it took two more blows to completely destroy it.
“Tch. Even though I used my ultimate technique…”
“Well, I’m a little surprised. But I’m still in the lead in this game.”
“Don’t forget about Ringa.”
Ringa stepped forward and swung an axe in each hand with all her might.
“Hey, wait a minute, Ringa, using axes is cheating!”
“These handaxes are a part of Ringa’s body. My claws transformed into this.”
“What kind of sophistry is that!”
Reve and Zofia confiscated Ringa’s handaxes, and Ringa reluctantly scraped at the rock with her sharp claws. However, it took about five knife-hand strikes before the rock lost its shape.
“Damn… but the competition isn’t over yet.”
“Lily is next.”
Next to Ringa, who was showing her frustration, Lily stepped forward.
“No… I don’t think Lily can do it, can she?”
Ringa thinks it’s better to give up.
“We have balloons prepared for children. You should use those.”
“No, it wouldn’t mean anything if I didn’t have the same conditions as everyone else.”
The demi-humans tried to stop her, but Lily shook her head with a determined look.
She quietly lowered her stance and exhaled, “Kohoooo.” A chilling, tense atmosphere filled the air. Someone gulped audibly.
“Sha!!”
A powerful knife-hand strike cut through the air and came down—
Tap.
“…”
There was a slight pause—
“Owwwwww!!!”
Lily clutched her right hand and crouched down.
“Well, that’s what you’d expect…”
“She only looked like a master.”
“I was scared for a moment…”
“Are you okay, Lily!”
Zenos rushed to Lily and checked her reddened right hand. He sighed in relief, seeing that it didn’t seem to be broken.
“Uuu, it was impossible for Lily after all…”
Lily’s shoulders slumped, but immediately after, a crack appeared in the rock with a pishi sound. Then, it split vertically with baribari sounds.
While everyone was dumbfounded, Lily jumped up and down in surprise.
“…I, I did it. The power of love…!”
“S-seriously?”
“An unexpected dark horse has appeared.”
“Elves are terrifying!”
Chattering noisily, the women moved on to the next game booth. Zenos, standing behind them, turned his head to the side with half-closed eyelids.
“…Hey, Camilla.”
“…What is it?”
“You didn’t erase your presence and help her just now, did you…?”
“What…?! Do you think I would do something so uncouth?!”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You know me well, don’t you?”
“I knew it…!”
Camilla said with a grin.
“Kukuku… I secretly picked up the Werewolf’s handaxe, erased my presence, and split it vertically.”
“Isn’t that… cheating?”
“Fool. Do you think the concept of cheating applies to me, the Necromancer King?”
“Well, your very existence is kind of cheating.”
“I can’t tell if you’re praising me or insulting me…”
“Are you taking Lily’s side, Camilla?”
“Hmph, I just want to see a heated game.”
Camilla, floating buoyantly, folded her arms proudly.
“Because, it’s more interesting that way, you see!” It’s more interesting that way…!
A/N: The women’s farce reaches its climax next time…!
The first volume of the Dark Healer novel is on sale from GA Novel. Thanks to your support, it was reprinted immediately after release, and a second volume has been decided. Thank you very much!
Please continue to enjoy the story. m(_ _)m
Editor’s Note: Reminder that if you enjoy this web novel to add the official light novels to your wishlist and buy them when you can afford it to support the author so they can write more.
The web novels are usually written week-to-week but the light novels are edited with the author’s completed vision and translated by professional localizers unlike us hobbyists.