Chapter 300 - Chapter 299: An Apostle's Certain Day, Part 2
Mika finished his monthly loan-sharking work and returned to the Royal Capital, searching for a restaurant in District 3.
It was a bit late, but he decided to have lunch and entered a shop that caught his eye.
Currently, there are some restrictions on food in the Royal Capital, and the menu is a bit short.
There are almost no restrictions on grains, but meat, vegetables, and fruits are restricted.
Well, they are restricted, but not banned, so restaurants are coming up with various ways to serve dishes.
By the way, strict restrictions are placed on alcoholic beverages like distilled liquor.
It seems temporary high tariffs have also been placed on imported alcohol.
It's a tough era for those who love alcohol.
While eating, someone sat at the seat opposite him.
It was Lebrantes of the Information Broker Guild.
"Yo, 'Dispeller'. I found you."
"Ho-ha-he-how did you find me?"
This is my first time entering this shop.
I just happened to spot it and wandered in.
Truly terrifying, the Information Broker Guild's information network.
Mika glared at him, but Lebrantes didn't care.
He raised the corner of his mouth and reported.
"About that matter. A report came in saying everything is complete."
"Ho-so."
Mika continued eating, chewing vigorously.
His appearance had grown, but his eating habits remained the same.
Well, he doesn't shovel it in like before, so please forgive him for just stuffing his cheeks.
That matter.
Actually, a somewhat troubling situation had been occurring for a few months.
Amalia's remarriage, and Loretta's marriage problem.
Just hearing that sounds like a very happy story, but the reality is far from happy.
Two nobles had noticed Mika's fame and its influence.
However, Mika himself was already engaged to Cleiria of the Marquis Leventein family.
So, they turned their eyes toward Mika's relatives.
They sent an envoy to Rish Village and half-threatened them, forcing a marriage.
Diego and Ninetiana intervened forcefully and drove the envoy away, but fearing retaliation, they contacted Mika.
Since they had left the communication device with the Noisheim family, it reached Mika's ears immediately.
As a result, Amalia and the others found out that Mika was engaged to Cleiria.
With the situation of Mika joining the Marquis family and them being forced into marriage by a noble family, Amalia and Loretta fell ill.
The mental burden exceeded the two of them's capacity.
Now, what kind of response would Mika take?
Would he use the Soiree, especially the Information Broker Guild, to hold the nobles' weak points?
Indeed, he did that, but it was part of the cleanup.
The correct answer was to go directly to the noble house and knock them down flat.
With blood rushing to his head, Mika stormed into the noble's mansion, knocked down the domain army knights guarding it, and severed the head of the house's dominant arm.
Of course, he used [Heal] on them immediately after.
However, he did not reattach the severed arm.
If [Heal] is used while the arm is not attached, it will never attach again later.
The nobles of this country still have a strong consciousness of "just a commoner."
The more a noble holds land far from the battlefield, the stronger this tendency is.
Despite trying to force marriage with Mika's family through threats, they genuinely thought, "I'll marry a commoner."
At first, Mika thought, "I'll just punch them two or three times to make sure they never think of such foolish things again," but they simply wouldn't listen.
In the end, they threatened him back, saying, "I'll make you regret raising a hand against a noble!" and "Don't get arrogant, you kid!"
Mika felt he should be praised for "enduring so much and not killing them."
However, this escalated, and other nobles began to intervene.
They were people who thought, "It's outrageous for a commoner."
If one harms a noble, a normal commoner would have their head chopped off.
Moreover, the blame extends to their family.
But Mika is an Apostle and also Cleiria's fiancé, so they couldn't do that to him.
So, they started using entanglers.
People began to appear who didn't know about Mika's relationship with the Soiree and tried to have the Information Broker Guild investigate Mika's weak points.
Worse yet, there were those who tried to have the Assassin Guild target Mika's family and Diego and the others.
So, he had the weak points of these people compiled and washed, lured them into traps with false information, drove them into economic ruin, and requested various underground operations from the Soiree.
As one of these, he had them steal the 'Sword of Royal Gift', a symbol of nobility granted by the King.
Currently, about five are in Mika's possession.
He decided to trap everyone who showed signs of tripping Mika up, including the nobles who stepped forward.
Shortly, these noble houses are scheduled to receive an audit from the Royal Palace.
Of course, the Information Broker Guild leaked each noble's weak points to the Royal Palace.
If the Sword of Royal Gift, which is usually hidden away, is found missing during the audit, what will happen to these nobles?
Combined with the inconvenient information, it is not hard to imagine they will face severe punishment.
Dissolving the noble houses would be difficult for the Royal Family during this chaotic period.
Well, even if tax revenue from several local domains decreases, they intend to lend as much as needed to Cranzard, so they won't go bankrupt due to lack of money.
Mika has no intention of actually collecting the debt seriously.
Since they are lending money to make them debt-ridden and under control.
He hopes that with Mika's overwhelming combat power, financial power, and control of information, no one will dare to provoke him anymore.
Some nobles reported Mika's violent acts to Cranzard, but the root cause was the forced marriage attempt.
Cranzard had told them to observe quietly, saying, "I will handle this matter."
In the end, the final judgment was left to Cranzard.
And the meaning of Lebrantes' report.
It means they successfully obtained the sixth Sword of Royal Gift.
With this, all noble houses that plotted to trip Mika up have lost their proof as nobles.
Well, it depends on Cranzard and the Royal Palace's judgment, but it is almost certain they will be dissolved.
It seems the Sword of Royal Gift cannot be dismissed as "I lost it" for any reason.
Perhaps if it was a sudden disaster, but stolen? That is an excuse from the bottom of the bottom.
It will be obvious that it was Mika's doing, but that doesn't matter.
If a noble tries to point that out, he will just say, "I hope your house doesn't get dissolved."
Or, "Shouldn't you check if it's properly stored?"
With this, perhaps the nobles will finally understand the meaning of the nickname "Curser."
Recently, only the reputation as an Apostle seems to be spreading on its own, so they shouldn't forget this either.
This is also one of the reasons why Mika's house is under strict guard.
Lebrantes stood up and asked as if remembering something.
"By the way, is today the Adventurer Guild?"
Mika swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded.
"I'm going to the Fifth Knights Order first. The Guild will be after that."
"I see."
Saying only that, Lebrantes left.
Information broker, Lebrantes.
Later, he would be evaluated for his strong connection with Mika and rise to become a member of the Information Broker Guild's executive board.
Even for the successor to the Concierge role,
"Think not of using the Guild for your own gain. The curse of the 'Curser' will not spare the Information Broker Guild either."
He strictly warned them.
Lebrantes, who was just an unremarkable information broker, was actually liked by Mika for his honest and unreserved manner.
He did not use hidden meanings with Mika, spoke bluntly about everything,
"Report unpleasant things exactly as they are."
Establishing this basic policy is said to be the main reason why the relationship between Mika and the Soiree remained good for many years.
By not standing only on Mika's side, but also openly conveying the stance of the Information Broker Guild and the Soiree, he showed that he could gain trust from the "Dispeller."
The Soiree.
It was an underground organization ruling the underworld, but its color was changing slightly in this period.
Substantially, the Soiree of this time was an intelligence organization topped by the "Apostles of the Gods."
However, this was also the period when their power expanded dramatically, successfully dominating the backside of the Kingdom for a long time.
In later years, a ritual to "pray to the Apostles of the Gods" before the Soiree's meetings became a tradition, but Mika himself never knew about this.
■■■■■■
After lunch, Mika headed to the Fifth Knights Order's office.
Currently, the Fifth Knights Order's office serves as the workplace for Rimliche and Basal.
"Hey."
"Thank you for your hard work, Instructor!"
When Mika raised one hand lightly to greet them, the rough-looking men saluted in unison.
They were brave men selected from all over the Kingdom.
Not limited to knights, there were also adventurers.
Rimliche and Basal, who were mages, were being beaten up among them.
The Kingdom Army Special Operations Regiment.
Although called a regiment, it has fewer than a company's worth of personnel.
It is a unit that aims to reach regiment size in the future.
The Kingdom Army had specialized too much in human-to-human combat.
After the previous war, the army reviewed its existence in part, and this regiment was started on a trial basis.
The idea was to create a unit for those who stepped beyond human limits.
Reflecting on the fact that they had undervalued individual strength, they tried to utilize the strong ones who had been buried until now.
And Ozendorwa became the first Regimental Commander of this Special Operations Regiment.
His fighting ability with the protective wall and his power to storm the Royal Castle and knock down the Royal Guards were evaluated.
In the battle with the Royal Guards, there were zero casualties among the Royal Guards.
He clearly held back, yet still overwhelmed them.
The Royal Guards, who had been considered an elite group until then.
Therefore, Mika and Yaroibarov were also invited to come occasionally as instructors to teach and knock them down.
By the way, the Knight Commander of the Fifth Knights Order continues to be held concurrently by Ozendorwa.
Due to this relationship, this Special Operations Regiment is subletting space in the Fifth Knights Order's office.
If Ozendorwa dies, it will surely be due to overwork.
"Mika-kun!"
Rimliche, noticing Mika's arrival, ran over from afar.
She came running at a terrifying speed without even being out of breath.
She had completely mastered the use of the supercharged bracer.
Then, Basal arrived a little late.
Both of them were covered in mud and sand.
"You two are in a terrible state."
"We were sparring with Kaerya-san just a moment ago!"
Rimliche answered cheerfully.
What can I say, Kaerya participated in the selection for this Special Operations Regiment.
One might wonder, "Kaerya becoming a regular soldier? What wind blew?" but the previous war had a slight influence on this.
Kaerya's hometown was ravaged by war.
And in the previous war, Salomrassa, the leader of her party, had fulfilled his duty.
Kaerya's party was close, but it seems they were a fairly dry relationship formed based on the interests of adventurers.
Even with Salomrassa, they joined not so much as a mage's combat power, but because he could use [Heal] and could be entrusted with the 'thinking' he was bad at.
But that Salomrassa went to the battlefield for the sake of the country.
And he fought splendidly and fulfilled his duty.
Honestly, to Kaerya, Salomrassa was unreliable.
If it was Salomrassa that Kaerya knew, she even thought he would run away saying, "I don't want to go to the battlefield."
But that Salomrassa, even when the conscription order came down, silently accepted it, did not hesitate to go to the battlefield, and fulfilled his duty.
At that time, Kaerya thought.
I want to stand on the battlefield too.
One might want to ask, "Why would that happen?" but Kaerya is not good at expressing things with words.
Probably, it means she was "impressed."
It seems she didn't think much even when Mika went wild on the battlefield.
In Kaerya's mind, even if Mika does something unreasonable, she can now accept it with, "Yeah, that boy would."
But the unreliable Salomrassa, whom she knew well, stood on the battlefield and fought.
Through this, it seems the thought of wanting to fight for someone else sprouted in her.
"The war is over already."
"With a soldier's salary, Kaerya can't make a living."
Everyone tried to persuade her.
However, there was this talk of the Special Operations Regiment.
This regiment is not yet official.
It is purely a trial operation.
Furthermore, the personnel are not even properly assembled.
So, it is a stage where they give a place to train those who pass strict criteria and test if the intended results are truly achieved.
Therefore, if one participates in training, they get quite a good allowance, but basically, everyone has a side job.
Some are officially assigned as knights, but adventurers have not quit being adventurers.
Currently, Salomrassa, Gaeras, and Trys are participating in the investigation team to the Holy Land and the Imperial Capital.
While everyone is going on an investigation, Kaerya is trying it out in this regiment first.
Basal was recommended by Mika based on his achievements during the Chimera attack.
Considering his age, defeating a Chimera without [Physical Enhancement] at this age is enough to show he has inhuman potential.
He himself showed interest in this regiment because he wanted to pursue individual strength rather than just becoming a soldier as a mage.
And as for Rimliche, she is actually not a member of this regiment.
It's essentially a continuation of her practice sessions.
She has a separate affiliation and is participating in this regiment as a joint training.
Her affiliation is the Ministry of Military Affairs.
Rimliche's mission was to guard Mika.
Mika had prioritized reading 'Aquu's Knowledge' for a year and stopped going to the academy much.
Of course, with Cranzard's permission.
Rimliche heard from Cleiria that Mika was staying in a temporary housing in District 3, so she came to play one day.
Since she suddenly came to play, a minor conflict occurred between the guarding knights and her at that time.
Well, she started coming to play frequently from that day, but she seems to have asked Cleiria why strict guard was always laid regardless of when she came.
"Mika-kun, I will protect him!"
She declared.
Again, one might want to ask, "Why would that happen?" but Rimliche is also not very good at expressing things with words.
Considering the incident with Aquu, she probably interpreted it as, "I don't want anything bad to happen."
Mika and the others successfully graduated from the Magic Academy in the second month of this year's Earth.
And now, for military service, many people entered the Kingdom Army Mage Division.
Cleiria and Stellan entered the Court Magic Institute, and in the Leventein group, Charl and Polnard went to the Court Magic Institute.
The rest of the Leventein group went to the Kingdom Army Mage Division.
Their grades were excellent, but they rejected the offer from the Court Magic Institute for the reason, "I hate studying now," and went to the Kingdom Army.
Murt and Cecilia were understandable, but Mesterite choosing the Kingdom Army was a bit surprising.
And then, there was Rimliche.
Her wish was to protect Mika.
So, they decided to grant that wish.
I am quite soft on Rimliche, aren't I.
Well, she is a friend, and above all, she is the one who saved my life.
Let's put aside Rimliche's story for a moment and talk about Mika.
Mika, like the others, has graduated from the Magic Academy and is subject to military service.
So, where is Mika's path?
The Kingdom Army?
The Court Magic Institute?
Or, through his connection with the Leventein family, the Domain Army?
The correct answer is, all of them.
Mika's current titles are:
・Special Advisor to the Royal Palace
・Special Advisor to the Minister of Military Affairs
・Special Consultant to the Chief of the Integrated Operations Headquarters of the Kingdom Army
・Special Advisor to the Director General of the Court Magic Institute
・Special Consultant to the Chief of the General Staff Headquarters of the Marquis Leventein Domain Army
As an aide to the King, he will consult on anything if there is a problem.
He will also consult with the Minister of Military Affairs and the Director General of Magic.
He will consult on the strategy and tactics of the Kingdom Army and the Leventein Domain Army.
Such a casual status.
Why is he so casual despite having so many titles?
It is because Mika has no authority whatsoever.
He will consult if there is a problem.
But deciding and executing something is up to the King, the Minister of Military Affairs, the Director General of Magic, and the commanders of each army.
There is nothing he can execute on his own responsibility.
Therefore, he is a very casual and light status.
By the way, his salary is set the same as a normal mage recruit.
He does not take a high salary with one or two meetings a month like a government appointee.
Anyway, he remains a key figure who can whisper into the center of the nation.
So, they decided to attach a guard.
That was Rimliche.
He asked the Minister of Military Affairs to create a department within the Ministry of Military Affairs specializing in protecting key figures.
There had been cases of protecting key figures before, but they had only ordered the military commander to send people for protection.
He made them create a specialized department within the Ministry of Military Affairs.
However, currently, it is only Rimliche.
It is just a trick to take the form of serving military service.
And currently, Rimliche is training in the Special Operations Regiment.
She received the supercharged bracer from Mika, but she cannot master [Physical Enhancement] ten times or more immediately.
In the academy exercises, enhancing by ten times would overwhelm even the students of the Knight Academy.
Because there was no place to display her power, she had not been able to try enhancements of ten times or more until now.
In this Special Operations Regiment, there are monsters gathered, so it is easy to try high-ratio [Physical Enhancement].
So, she is doing both level-ups in her base state and training to master [Physical Enhancement].
Mika looked at Rimliche and raised the corner of his mouth.
"............I'll play with you a little. Shall we do it after resting?"
"It's fine!"
Rimliche's eyes sparkled.
"Eeeh... seriously."
"The Apostle Instructor is ruthless..."
"...That kid does this every time."
The men watching Mika and Rimliche grimaced.
Mika is not as skilled at holding back as Yaroibarov or Ozendorwa.
He has [Heal], so he knocks them down quite ruthlessly.
Those here who can keep up are quite something, but only Rimliche and Basal seemed eager to do it willingly.
Mika led Rimliche to a place where no one was around.
"What ratio are you practicing with now?"
"Hmm... I think it's about fifteen times. If I raise it to twenty times, I can't tell what's happening."
Rimliche frowned as if troubled.
She is probably being tossed around by the power and cannot move properly.
"Then, I'll go with that much too."
Saying that, Mika drew Holy Sword Namakura-sama.
"Same as usual. If you take one from me, you can officially become a guard. If you can't, you'll train in this regiment for a while longer."
"Alright, let's go!"
Using Mika's guard as bait, he drew out Rimliche's fighting spirit.
Since she has not been able to achieve this condition, Rimliche has not been able to officially become Mika's guard until now, despite calling herself a guard.
Every day is training days.
Rimliche entered Mika's range in an instant.
Then, she slashed upwards with a reverse slash.
Gaginn Gaginn Gagigiginn Gaginn!!!
Mika parried, blocked, and swatted away that swordplay.
Even so, Rimliche continued to launch a barrage of attacks.
"Not yet."
Bog!
Mika parried Rimliche's short sword and delivered a body blow to her exposed flank.
Quite seriously, so it would work even on Rimliche with supercharged durability.
"Guh...!"
Mika added a follow-up attack to Rimliche, whose expression was twisted in pain, and finally stepped on her center of gravity as she lost balance and pushed her down.
Pressing Namakura-sama against Rimliche's neck.
"......As ruthless as ever."
"Not holding back against a girl like that is too much..."
The gallery condemned Mika's devilish deeds one after another.
He glared at them with a single look.
"O-oh! Let's do it!"
"Ah, I'm getting motivated too!"
The men glared at by Mika scattered to avoid being selected.
Mika used [Heal] and offered his hand to Rimliche.
"Your movement isn't bad, but you're too aggressive. But you've become sharper than before. Now, learn to endure."
"......Endure?"
Rimliche, who grabbed Mika's hand and stood up, tilted her head.
"It hurts and it's painful, but in a real battle, they won't wait for you, right? It's natural for them to come to finish you off while you're in pain. Endure the pain and focus on the battle. Don't create openings."
"Y-yes...!"
Rimliche pressed her lips together and nodded firmly.
Mika sheathed Namakura-sama.
"If you were a solo adventurer, you could run away if you thought it was dangerous. You could make time to get your posture ready. But you can't serve as a guard that way."
Even hiding behind a corner to get your posture ready because the situation is unfavorable is not allowed for a guard.
If you hide yourself, you must protect even that.
Mika taught her these things.
If it is to protect Mika and the things precious to Mika, he wants to give her the necessary resolve.
And above all, he does not want Rimliche herself to lose her life.
Therefore, he was teaching her somewhat strictly, conveying her mindset and things in actual combat.
"Then, training for a while longer."
"......Yes."
At Mika's announcement, Rimliche pouted a little.
This kind of face from her child is a bit rare.
If it were simple strength, Rimliche is already at a considerable level, so she probably has thoughts about Mika not passing her despite that.
Mika can fight Rimliche without using [Physical Enhancement].
Strictly speaking, without using the [Physical Enhancement] of [God's Miracle].
The "Imprecati" possessed inhuman physical abilities.
Actually, this is also a type of "Vocabulum".
There is a way of using "Voluntas" similar to Physical Enhancement.
He certainly cannot output power equivalent to forty times [Physical Enhancement].
But he can easily exceed twenty times.
This is the reason Yaroibarov struggled against the King possessed by the "Imprecati".
It doesn't have various resistances like the supercharged bracer, but for simple physical enhancement, this is more convenient to use.
It seems the enhancement of durability is higher here, and thanks to that, one can pull off a twenty-time enhancement without magic tool assistance.
Soon, in terms of simple strength, he will no longer be able to match Rimliche, but before that, he thinks he must drill into her the concept of 'protecting'.
That is what Mika struggled with the most.
And, realizing that there is something equivalent to [Physical Enhancement] in "Vocabulum", Mika became convinced of a certain hypothesis.
[God's Miracle] is imitating "Vocabulum".
Although it is a means to counter "Vocabulum", he was convinced that its effect was an imitation of "Word".
He had thought they were similar from before.
[Explosive Flame] and [Rockfall] can be said to be exactly the same.
Since there is something equivalent to [Physical Enhancement] in "Word", he thought that [God's Miracle] might have started with imitation first.
Well, the fact that [Dispel] exists shows that it developed independently afterwards, and since it originated from "Word", what of it.
Mika took Rimliche and knocked down about twenty people who were participating in training that day thoroughly.
At the same time, he instructed them on what to watch out for while facing two or three people at once.
And he was truly dumbfounded by Kaerya's toughness.
Unless you knock her down with killing intent, she won't even buckle her knees.
He almost wanted to scout her for his guard.
Basal.
Mika's lifelong friend, who will succeed Ozendorwa in the future and become the Regimental Commander of the Special Operations Regiment.
Combining the sword directly taught by Ozendorwa and his family's swordsmanship, he created his own school.
Combining his excellent swordsmanship with [Physical Enhancement], he was hailed as the strongest swordsman in the Kingdom for a long time.
His strength, which won the tournament held at Mika's proposal for eight consecutive years, is passed down in the Kingdom.
At his eighth victory, Mika warned him, "You've done enough, hand it over to the next generation," and he gave up participating the following year.
By the way, the winner of the first tournament was Ozendorwa, and since Ozendorwa explicitly stated from the beginning, "I will only participate once," Basal holds the record for the most victories.
In his later years, he was ennobled as a Baron and served as a swordsmanship and martial arts instructor for the Kingdom Army and the Royal Guards.
Basal's school was adopted as the official swordsmanship for the knights and soldiers of the Kingdom Army and came to be called the Ektrem-style swordsmanship.
Kaerya, Salomrassa, Gaeras.
Kaerya continued as an adventurer and gave up on officially joining the Special Operations Regiment.
After all, the low salary was a sticking point.
However, she participated in training frequently, which brought good changes to her fighting style.
Her activities as an adventurer also accumulated results smoothly, and all members of the party were promoted to B-rank.
In the Adventurer Guild of the Royal Capital, their name became known as a reliable party with experienced members.
However, Kaerya was still famous for being thrown into jail sometimes due to her bad drinking habits...