Yuusha Yori Saikyouna Kuro Kishi

Royal Family Exclusive Seating Area

After lunch, we watched the Magician Corpss matches.

As I thought, the light that appeared whenever they used magic was really cool.

Whoa! Magicians use many magic items other than staves! Its so cool, Elder Brother-sama!!

Ah, it seems like there are many types of staves, but there are also many different accessory magic crystals attached to them.

The prince and princess were having a conversation next to me.

As they had said, magicians used different types of magic items to support themselves.

The staves could be taller than me or shorter than a pen.

The magic items could also take the shape of folding fans, bracelets, rings, and necklaces.

It all depended on the individuals preference.

Even people with magic power, who didnt need to use magic items, still used them to some degree.

Also, even if everyone had an individual elemental attribute, it was necessary to have a dedicated magic formation to cast spells of other elements.

I only had the Darkness attribute, so I also needed to use a magic formation to cast spells of other elements.

However, since the magic formation for summoning magic was inscribed into my soul, I didnt need to carry it around.

On the other hand, I absolutely needed a magic formation to create a light in the kitchen or bath, or to unlock the door to my room.

By the way, those types of magic formations were sold cheaply at the shopping district.

They were extremely convenient for daily life.

Blue magic crystals were also sold cheaply for the same reason.

Magicians werent the only ones who bought these magical support tools; people with little to no magic power also bought them.

In this world, not everybody was born with magic power.

Rather, the people who had little to no magic power were an overwhelming majority.

Everyone in the Archer Corps used magic, but they amplified and enhanced their attributes by using magic stones and magic formations.

Since the Magician Corps consisted of people born with an abundance of magic power, they were the smallest corps in the army.

Only one or two of them were dispatched to each village or town.

There were excellent magicians among the civilians, but since we couldnt unreasonably conscript them into the army, we were constantly short-handed.

Magicians who could use all elements were usually misanthropic hermits who secluded themselves in the wilderness.

That was why I had devoted my attention to strengthening the magicians.

The main reason was that, apart from Amy and the vice-captain, they didnt have any physical strength!

Anyway, back to the auxiliary magic items.

They came in all shapes and sizes.

The magic crystals were made to take the shape of something that symbolized the element.

The shapes were: Diamonds for the Earth element, Hearts for Water, Spades for Wind, Clubs for Fire, the Sun for Light, and the Moon for Darkness.

There were other special shapes, but for the most part, it was those six shapes.

Crystals with these shapes were embedded into the Archer Corpss bows.

Since the Long Blue-haired Ikemen had a rare element, his bow had two magic crystals embedded in it.

In his case, Hearts and Spades for Ice.

Non-elemental magic like healing or summoning magic could use normal, unprocessed magic crystals.

People who had strong magic power and two or three elements had several crystals embedded in their equipment, or had each crystal embedded into an accessory.

That was why there were some gaudy people.

Either way, magic crystals just amplified your magic power to the limit. Anybody could cast simple spells if they just had a magic formation.

Whenever I thought about this, I was reminded that I was from a different world.

The power that I received from Amaterasu-sama only changed my magic power a little bit.

I had the same amount of magic power as the Demon Lord, but my original elemental attribute had not changed.

I thought, wouldnt my element be affected by both the Yin(moon) and the Yang(sun)?

Of course, Yin was associated with Darkness, Water, Earth, Plants, Females, Winter, Stillness, Cold, and the Moon.

Yang was associated with Light, Fire, Sky, Animals, Males, Summer, Motion, Heat, and the Sun.

Haha I couldnt believe that my Otaku knowledge was useful here.

Anyways, putting that aside, thats how it was.

Of course, it didnt mean that I couldnt use other attributes, but the effects of Fire, Wind and Light were all much weaker.

In the case of Wind, I thought it fell under the category of Sky.

I could use Fire to the point where cooking wasnt a problem. I could make a gentle breeze with Wind; and with Light, I could only cast Raitoree to the degree where it could barely illuminate a book for reading.

If one used it to read books, their eyesight would deteriorate.

That was why if I just wore the armet, I could avoid using Magic Crystals.

However, nobody wanted to see somebody in pajamas wearing an armet.

Anyway, other than Darkness, I also had an affinity with Water and Earth.

Even though I had the Darkness attribute, that didnt mean that I could cast original magic. It only meant that I could use Advanced Magic without a magic formation.

Judging from that, rather than having the Darkness attribute, I might actually have the Yin attribute.

It wouldnt be strange if the body the Sun Goddess made for me had the Yang attribute, but my affinity for the Yin attribute could be due to me being female, or because I possessed it from the start.

Maybe I needed to examine this body a little more carefully.

However, this Yin Yang philosophy came from China well, it wouldnt be strange for the philosophy to have spread to Japan when people immigrated to Japan from the mainland.

(TL: Amaterasu is the Sun Goddess, so her power is Yang.)

(ED: Raitoree is probably just Lightly, but the TL didnt like how it looked, and I agree.)

Chie? Whats wrong? What are you thinking about?

!? Aiie!

(TL: Exclamation of surprise.)

The prince called out to me, who was lost in thought.

The emperor, empress, and princess also looked worried.

No good, no good. I was still on escort duty.

I am very sorry. I was just thinking about something.

Thinking about something?

Its a personal matter, please dont worry about it.

The Royal Family and the surrounding servants tilted their heads.

No, no, no, this wasnt good. I couldnt let the people of this world know what I was just thinking about.

It was good that the Prime Minister wasnt here.

He disliked me, after all.

Hey, whats Chies attribute?

At this moment, the princesss carefree attitude interrupted us and saved me from replying.

Honestly, it was the best moment to change the subject.

My element is Darkness.

Darkness, huh~. It really fits Chie!

Is that so?

I was slightly surprised by the Princesss words.

Uhh, its because Chies armour and sword are both black, and even your eyes and hair are black. Youre also accompanied by a black unicorn. It sounds scary, but if its Chie, its really cool!

The princess said with a big smile.

That was the first time somebody had said that about me, so I felt rather shy embarrassed?.

I was always called princess-like, or for better or worse, meek.

Ah, thats true. The way you make calm judgements, how you excel at analyzing what is the best course of action, and precisely deal with every situationthe serene Darkness element suits you much better than the Light element.

The prince also gave me his evaluation of me, agreeing with the princess.

The day after I had been spoken of so harshly by Conrad and the others, the Royal Family, my superiors, showered me with praises.

H-huh? My face feels warm?

That was strange. It was supposed to always be comfortable in the armor.

As the Royal Family continued to shower praises on me, I felt hotter and hotter.

It seemed that being showered with excessive praise might be a problem.

Tournament Grounds, Magician Corpss Finals

It was finally the finals.

I didnt like being in public.

However, as the Captain, I couldnt not do my best!

Alphonse, I wont go easy on you

Understood.

The current Vice-captain of the Magician Corps, Alphonse Balcon, who was clad in a slender, dark-green robe, held out his right hand.

He wore a bracelet on his arm and a ring on his middle finger.

The bracelet had a Club Magic Crystal and the ring had a Dia Magic Crystal.

He had an affinity to both Fire and Earth elements.

Although he was the Vice-captain, he was slightly different from other magicians.

I couldnt be negligent.

I waited for the starting signal.

He also wielded a staff with a Hexagram magic crystal.

(ED: We used full suit names earlier to clarify, but we will be switching back to the original names going forward.)

Ready, begin!!

At the referees signal, we both casted a spell.

Flame!

Bang!

The fire magic that we both cast collided with a loud bang.

The first step was to cast a chantless spell while moving to find the opponent.

Alphonse had a similar train of thought.

I circled around him, wary of his right hand.

There was nowhere to hide in this empty arena.

I could make my own walls, like the Archer Corps did, but if I had to maintain it while casting magic, my magic power would quickly run out.

Even if I had more magic power than a normal person, it still had a limit.

Stone Edge!

Alphonses Dia shone, and a sharp stone blade came flying.

I held out my staff.

Sylph Shield.

I created a shield of wind and stopped the rock.

The shield dispersed, and

Goro! Goro! Goro!

The rock fell to the ground

Since I protected myself, I avoided what would have been an instantly fatal wound, but I would have been injured if it had hit.

Up until now, I had incapacitated my opponents in one hit, but it seemed that I couldnt do that with Alphonse.

Now then, what element should I use?

Military Personnel Exclusive Seating Area

You can tell why the Black Knight kept emphasizing physical strength, based on the matches up until now.

Celestia nodded at my words.

By the way, Conrad appeared to be watching the matches, but his gaze seemed to be unfocused, so we left him alone for the time being.

Yep, especially the finals. This is the climax.

The finals were going on right before our eyes.

The two competitors were moving around so as to avoid being hit, while alternating between attacking and defending.

But, isnt the outcome clear? Amy has an affinity with all the elements anyway.

Adelbert spoke, as if it was a done deal.

In response:

Haah~

We all sighed in amazement.

H-hey! What is it! You all did it again!!

Adelbert raised his voice.

He reacted badly.

Thats why youre Stupid Swordsman.

Celestia held her head while saying that.

We all agreed with her.

You, I know that you dont want to acknowledge the results of the training thought up by the Black Knight, but at least, as the captain of the Swordsman Corps, pay attention to Alphonses current strength.

Guh

The Stupid Swordsman fell silent.

These sorts of exchanges had become more frequent recently.

Since a long time ago, whether it was due to excessive self-consciousness or a superiority complex, he often underestimated his opponents.

That was also the case when we first met the Black Knight.

The blood had rushed to our heads, but that had not been the case for Adelbert.

Despite that, he didnt reflect on the fact that calmly evaluating the opponent was key.

(TL: Since the editors got confused Albert wasnt acting on impulse like the others during that incident in Chapter 8.)

Listen, just because somebody has all the elements doesnt mean that they will definitely win.

Huh?

Adelbert made a strange face.

This guy really didnt get it, huh

Adel, no matter how amazing the technique is, its meaningless if it doesnt hit, right?

I know that!!

He raised his voice in response to Celestia.

Wasnt this guy older than Celestia?

Were their mental ages actually reversed?

Thats why Black Knight-dono told them to build their physical strength.

Why is it like that!?

Hey, hey, dont just give a half-hearted explanation. I would also get angry.

Just get it into your head that you need to raise physical ability to be able to avoid attacks!!

Celestia, who was running out of patience, finally started yelling.

Adelbert widened his eyes in surprise at her angry voice.

In other words! When Black Knight-dono saw that the Magician Corpss ability to evade attacks was low, he put all his effort into strengthening them through unprecedented muscle training! Also, training ones body has other merits. Didnt Black Knight-dono say that? Strengthening the body leads to strengthening the mind. I heard from Amy that magic wasnt only about magic power, but also using the mind to manifest the technique. Thats why the Black Knights training is very efficient.

As Celestia said, magic consisted of magic power and an element.

However, the more difficult magic also required strength of mind.

Chanting helped in increasing the strength of the mind.

It was possible to make up for magic power and the element with magic items, but there was no way to strengthen the mind.

Looking back on it, the Black Knights training methods were on point.

A day in the life of the Magician Corps (Oni game)

HAHAHA!! ORAORA, you cant move anymore, right?!!

GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

Yea, they were trained, in various senses of the word.

No really, if I were chased by a pitch black armor wielding a sword, my mind would also be strengthened.

Also, the Black Knight seemed to be laughing with delight during practice.

He appears evil at times.

Why was he even chosen by the Unicorn?

On one side of me was a dazed Conrad, and on the other, Adelbert was being lectured by Celestia.

It felt weird to watch the finals as all of this went on around me.

Tournament Grounds

There seemed to be a commotion of some sort in the military seating area, but I needed to focus on Alphonse.

I gradually raised the power of my spells, but I didnt hit Alphonse at all.

Unlike other magicians, Alphonse was good at dodging.

He was originally a farmer from the countryside.

Wrap around him! Sylph Bind!!

The wind circled around Alphonse, sealing his movements.

If it were a non-elemental Bind spell, magicians with higher magic power would instantly dispel it.

If I used Earth Bind, roots would come out of the ground and try to wrap around him, but the agile Alphonse would instantly evade it.

Fire, Water, Light or Darkness were good for offensive spells, but werent good for restricting opponents.

Therefore, I decided that a Wind element Bind was the best option to keep him in place.

Besides, Wind was basically air.

Even though it couldnt be seen with the naked eye, that power filled the world.

It was also easy to form an image of it, since we experienced it often.

That was why I could strengthen the Bind holding my opponent in place as much as I wanted!

Alphonse desperately tried to escape from the Bind.

However,

You cant escape!

I used the opportunity to chant.

Oh Wind that blows around the Earth, bear my grudge and rip my enemy to pieces! Sylph Sonic!

I casted the intermediate spell Sylph Sonic, and a blade of wind hit Alphonse.

Gah!

Due to the Protection, he wasnt maimed, but he was sent flying with great force.

Winner, Amy Arnold! The winner of the Magician Corps bracket is Amy Arnold!!

Woooooooooo!

The crowd cheered at the referees declaration.

I walked over to Alphonse.

He seemed dazed, but was uninjured.

UUhm, he isnt injuredI think, but Please bring a stretcher.

I immediately approached the referee to arrange for the stretcher.

Uuu, I could speak clearly when chanting, but I still ended up pausing a lot when I talked to other people

I was really bad with people, so I wanted to leave this place as soon as I could, but I couldnt just leave Alphonse there.

In a certain part of the slums

Gakin!

Tch

I was in the middle of investigating Chies request, but a blunder had led to a fight.

He seemed like an assassin, but I couldnt recognize him.

He was agile, wearing an assassins preferred attire of a sleeveless shirt and gauntlets.

He wore black like me, and his body was completely covered, excluding his eyes.

The man was taller and more slender than I was, but I could clearly see his muscles.

He used weapons like mine, a dagger and darts.

As an assassin, being as light as possible was important, so we used those.

Anyway, this guy was skilled.

It wouldnt have been strange if he was well-known in the underworld, but unfortunately, I didnt recognize him.

This guy was a hinderance.

While clashing daggers, I looked for an opening of some sort.

I threw darts from a distance, but he blocked them all with his dagger.

You bastard, who do you work for?

The assassin suddenly started to talk.

I didnt answer his question.

The fact that I am Chies the Black Knights subordinate, was a secret to most of the world.

In order to keep it covert, as the title of Imperial Covert Investigator says, only Chie, His Majesty, Conrad, and Alice knew.

That was why I didnt say a thing during my missions.

It wasnt only because it was my job, but it was also to protect my best and close friend.

I see, youre quite a skilled assassin, huh.

I kept silent at the assassins words.

Since I had met Chie, I had never assassinated anyone.

I was thinking of having someone torture you, but it looks like you wont talk, even if you die.

The assassin prepared his dagger.

I took out three of my few, remaining darts.

It cant be helped, dont blame me for your death!

He leapt forwards, closing the distance instantly.

Shoot! I thought, as his dagger swiped at my face.

I couldnt dodge it from this close.

I immediately held the darts in my right hand to my face.

This would take all my strength.

I readied myself for the blow.

Bashi!

Something hit the mans hand, and the dagger tumbled out of his grasp.

We didnt know what had happened.

Shadow Smoke!

We heard a voice above us, and we were wrapped in a pitch black smoke, unable to see anything.

Toh!

Here.

That person landed behind me, grabbed my left hand, and started to run.

Wait a minute! That voice is!!

Wait! Wha!?

Shh! Run first!

Once we snuck out of the smoke, I was able to see.

Their figure was hidden by a robe, and they wore a black leather glove.

However, I recognized that voice.

I knew it well enough that it was impossible for me to be wrong.

We kept running until we arrived next to the shopping district.

We should be fine here. We dont have to worry about him chasing us.

Y-you

I was a bit flustered.

Why wasnt she wearing her armour!!

Hurry and wear your armour! Isnt it bad if others see you without it!?

I spoke to the robed figure, Chie, in a hushed voice.

I didnt say her name as a precaution.

Its fine. This voice is my normal voice, and no one saw my body through these robes and gloves.

Thats true, but

Didnt Alice mention it before? About my occasional outings like this. If I always wore armour, Id get tired of it.

If she said so, then I relaxed with a sigh.

Haah, whatever. More importantly, why were you there?

I asked.

I had heard that she went to bed earlier, since tomorrow was the final day of the tournament.

Ah~, well, I felt a strange presence and had a bad premonition, and since my armoured figure would stand out, I dispelled it after I left the castle gates, and went looking for you. When I saw you, you were about to be cut, so I grabbed a rock, jumped, and threw it at the opponents hand. Then, I cast a smokescreen spell, and all that led to the present.

Youre as unreasonable as always.

I shrugged and made a bitter smile.

Anyways, thank you, you saved me.

The edges of Chies lips raised.

Anyway.

You said you followed a strange presence, but

Ah, the assassin that was your opponent, it seems like he was holding onto something.

That guy? What in the world was it?

Chie shook her head in response.

I dont know, since I was focused on you, I didnt see clearly.

Is that so?

But I do know one thing.

Ah, me too.

We both nodded.

Somehow, that assassin was involved with whatever we were investigating.

To be continued