Iris: *does a curtsy* Greetings, everyone! My name is Belzerg Stylish Sword Iris. Since Onii-chan isn't here at the moment, so I am here to inform you about spoilers regarding this chapter in his place.
Guardian: *runs towards Iris*
Iris: So-
Guardian: *stopped running and breathes heavily* Iris! Sorry I'm late! Did I miss something?
Iris: No, you arrived at the right time. I was just about to remind our readers some spoilers in this chapter.
Guardian: *gave Iris a thumbs up* Nice, would you like to do the honours? I mean, I kinda deserved it since I was late.
Iris: Really? Yay! So this time, we have some content from LN Vol. 10 and Vol. 5 (aka the Konosuba Movie) in this chapter.
Guardian: This chapter won't spoil you that much about the Light Novels, but then again, it is still a spoiler no matter how you look at it. So, like we said a few times before, you are strongly advised to read them beforehand. But still, you are always welcome to read this chapter, if you don't really care about being spoiled.
Iris: If you have read them, please enjoy the following chapter: Searching for a Nameless Book! *Guardian does present arms with his sword while Iris does another curtsy*
After teaching the adventurers a lesson, I returned back to the Royal Castle.
Then, I staggered my way towards Iris' bedroom, and I met Iris halfway.
"Good morning Onii-chan!" Iris greeted me cheerfully as she waved at me.
"Good morning Iris." I greeted Iris back with a smile on my face.
"Are you ready to go?" I asked as I maintained the smile.
"Yes! I am ready for action!" Iris turned around to show me the combat outfit I gave her back then, as if she was saying that she had geared up.
"Nice!" I replied as I gave her a thumbs up.
"By the way, Onii-chan." Iris looked at me with excitement and uncertainty.
"What's wrong?"
"Take a look at this." Iris brought out a sword with a beautiful scabbard.
"Wow, that looks awesome! But is that..."
"What Calibur. One of the national treasures of this kingdom." Iris finished shyly, as if she was afraid of being reprimanded by me.
"I am not really concerned about what you did. Or rather, I am interested in how did you get that. It must be heavily guarded, considering it is a national treasure." I said calmly.
"I asked the guards to get that for me..." Iris answered in a shy tone as she fidgeted nervously.
"To be honest, considering how proficient you are with the heavier sword I gave you back then, I believe you can wield that holy sword with almost no problem. Also, kudos to you getting that in a smart way." Instead of scolding her, I reassured her as I put my hands on her shoulders.
"With all that settled, let's go!" I said with an energetic, yet gentle tone.
"Roger!" Iris replied in the same tone as she saluted me. I returned the salute right after she saluted.
Then, I decided to play with her a little bit further.
"Parade, fall-out!" I commanded as we both made a right turn and stand there for a few seconds, since that is exactly how fall-out works.
"Okay, let's go!" I said as we ran towards the secret passage to the Operational Base.
Nine minutes later...
I opened the doors and saw... no one in the Operational Base. *sobs*
"They are late..." I sighed as I took a step inside.
"My name is Loby! The number one fire-aligned Archwizard there- Wait, no, no. That sounds dumb. The most powerful Archwizard there- Nah, that sounds too exaggerated. How about-" Loby talked to himself as he was thinking about his new incantation. He was probably too concentrated in making a new one, as he didn't noticed the doors were opened and us standing at the doors with a blank expression.
A few minutes later, Loby finally turned to the doors and saw us staring at him with blank expressions.
"No!"
A few minutes later...
"What's wrong?!" Karu and Yunyun entered the Operational Base after they heard Loby's screaming.
"I... I have been violated!" Loby said in horror with tears in his eyes as I received empty stares from Karu and Yunyun.
"Wait, is hearing your soon-to-be incantation a violation to the Crimson Demons? What the fk?" I raised my hands in exasperation, but put them down instantly due to the pain from the wounds last night.
"Anyway, is everyone ready?" I turned to my party members. "If you are, Yunyun, take Chris and Karu and teleport the Crimson Demon Village. Iris and Loby are with me."
"I understand!"
Then, I turned to Iris and Loby.
"Let's go! Teleport!"
We teleported to somewhere near the Crimson Demon Village.
At that moment, there was a lone figure standing in the middle of the plains. When I look a little harder, the figure had pig ears and a large body.
That's right, the lone figure I just mentioned before is an orc.
The orc looked around and saw the three of us. That orc looked like it was in heat all year round, and was eager to find someone she (or at least I think it's a she) could screw.
Before I realized it, Loby hid in the bushes, as if he knew what would happen next.
The orc made some high-pitched noises and a horde of them appeared in a matter of a few moments.
And they were running... towards Iris and I.
Of course, I held Iris' hand and ran away in case of the orcs caught us. The thing is, the orcs weren't after us. They were only after me, probably because I am a man.
"Hey, that good-looking onii-chan over there! Are you interested in making children with me?" A bunch of voices said the same line, which almost made me have the impression of the orc using the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique from a certain shounen anime. (one of the Big Three Anime to be specific, in case you don't understand what I am saying.)
I get the red summoning scroll and summoned (What) Calibur and gave it to Iris whilst we were running away from the orcs.
"Iris, go ahead first." I charged towards the orcs with my sword drawn after telling Iris this cool line.
"Ara, I haven't a man coming for us for years!" "I am so going to cherish this moment!"
The orcs were in deep heat, okay? They were so in heat that they had the perception of a guy rushing towards them with his weapon drawn equals he liked them. Seriously, what kind of bullshit is this? And what the fk is wrong with this world?
I jumped and did a flip as I prepared a drop kick pose.
"Fk you all!" I dropkicked the orc in the face. 'Whirlwind Flash Sword!' I shouted the skill internally as I spun my sword and begun to dismember the orcs one by one.
But that skill alone wasn't enough to take them all out due to the sheer number of the orcs, so I brought out my communicating device as I swung my sword in all directions to fend the orcs off.
"Zulu to India! Zulu to India! Draw your sword and we will take them out with a pincer attack. Release your strongest skill, over!"
"Roger!"
As I ran in a different direction so that they wouldn't notice Iris, since she was behind them.
"Are you ready?"
"India ready!"
"Use your skill after a count of 3!" I told Iris through the communicating device as I stand still and faced against the orcs.
"Roger!"
"3... 2... 1... Now!"
"Exterion!" "Retribution!" Iris and I unleashed two large cream-coloured beams of light at the same time as we both used our strongest skills and annihilated the entire horde of orcs.
Probably because it was first time for us to use these skills, so we didn't have fine control over the skills as the two beams clashed with each other fiercely, and dissipated simultaneously after a few minutes.
"Onii-chan! Are you okay?" Iris ran towards my direction to check on me.
"I am fine. By the way, your skill was pretty OP here. Did you gave in your all?"
"No, I used about 70% of my power." Iris replied as she shook her head.
My expression got a little gloomy with disbelief.
'I only have about 70% of her full power, even when I go all out... Well, how am I supposed to protect her when she is still stronger than me...?'
"Onii-chan? Onii-chan!" Iris called me as she shook me back to my senses.
"What's wrong?" Iris asked as she gave me a concerned look.
"Nothing. Never mind me, let's go." I said as I let Iris help me up.
We made it to the main entrance of the Crimson Demon Village about fifteen minutes later.
"Oh hey." I waved at the other three members who were standing at the main entrance of the Crimson Demon Village.
"What took you guys so long?" Karu asked with a slightly cocky tone.
"Oh nothing, Iris and I got chased down by at least a hundred orcs. And someone who had the ability to wipe them all out at ease hid in the bushes and didn't help us out." I replied as I glanced at Loby, who looked at another direction while fidgeting with his staff.
A few seconds later, a large number of armored goblins and kobolds appeared. They were most likely dispatched by the Demon King's Army, judging from their sturdy armor.
"Take them out! Leave nothing standing in our path!" One of the goblins yelled.
"Fk my life. Yunyun and Loby will be at the rear and ready the magic spells. Karu, Chris, you guys will be doing the supporting roles. Iris and I will be the vanguard and buy the Crimson Demon Duo (Don't call us that! x2) some time for their incantations. Got it?" I turned to my party members as I distributed roles for them while the monsters weren't stopping.
Except for Karu who crossed his arms and looked away impatiently, the rest of them gave me a thumbs up.
"Okay, we will keep in touch with the communicating devices. Move!" I took out the red Summoning Scroll and summoned Iris' sword as my party members (except Iris) scattered in two directions.
"Right, let's do this...!" I muttered to myself as I pulled my sword out and charged towards the horde of monsters with Iris.
Later on, we were heavily outnumbered, with two of us against like at least hundreds of them.
So, in order not to get our asses kicked by some random monsters, Iris and I stood back to back, with our weapons drawn.
"Be careful, he is the Magic Swordmaster and is rumored to have formidable powers!"
"Look at them, there's two of them and there's a lot of us. How could they possibly beat us?"
'Raising a death flag like this? Well, not that I hate it anyway.'
"Core change, Pegasus to Phoenix!" I commanded as the blue trenchcoat turned into a set of red combat outfit.
Then I combined my katanas into a large powered-up sword.
"Iris! Do you have any mana left? Let's use a combined skill here!"
"I couldn't use Exterion for now! Is Sacred Explode fine with you?"
"Perfect! Face me!" I replied as I turned around.
"Grab onto my sword!" I told Iris as I grabbed onto her sword.
Then we thrust our swords into the ground.
"Sacred Grand Explode!" Iris and I chanted together as we released the magic resides within our swords.
The surrounding monsters disintegrated as a bright orange-red explosion expanded in all directions.
However, it seems like someone disabled the attack and led to a smaller number of deaths caused by the large explosion from the combined skill.
And the person who blocked it was a Dullahan (aka a Headless Knight) on a headless horse.
"So, are you the rumored Magic Swordmaster ?" The Dullahan said he pointed at Iris.
'Fk. I could feel my mana regenerates even slower...' I thought to myself as I thrust my nodachi into the ground and did a sword plant to make myself look more formidable and as a means for support.
"No I am not." Iris replied as she shook her head.
"Then who-" Before he could finish, Iris shrugged, as if she was saying "I don't know".
Actually, she knew who that Magic Swordmaster was. It's me.
Iris glanced at me as if she was telling me to decide whether or not should I expose my identity.
Well fk it. I am going to do it.
"Do you know who that Magic Swordmaster is?" The Dullahan pointed at me.
"Well, of course I know him. He's me." I replied as I changed my Core Outfit back to the blue trenchcoat.
I pulled my sword out while the Dullahan was processing what I just said and stared at me.
"Ah! So you are the Magic Swordmaster, huh?"
"That is what I just said!" I interjected as I was stalling some time for the two Archwizards to finish their long-ass incantations and cast their fkin magic, considering they also have chuunibyou tendencies and most likely to mess things up.
"Zulu to Yankee and Lima. Are you ready for 'that'?"
"Yan... Yankee to Commander Zulu! Lima is missing!"
"What?! Where did he go?"
'This little...!'
"You know what? Change of plans. Just do it." I sighed in resignation as I pressed the reply button.
"Did you know, Magic Swordmaster-san? You were treated as the hero who would take down the Demon King." The Dullahan said. "But do you know who I am?"
"Hell no. I don't even know who you are since you didn't introduce yourself." I interjected once again as I stated out the truth.
"I am Beldia, the Demon King General who is dubbed 'the Hero Slayer'. I am your nemesis, and the one who will-"
"Light of Saber!" Yunyun's voice shouted the magic spell and eliminated like half of the undead legion.
I also got to thank Beldia as well, since he saved me a lot of energy as his unnecessary monologue bought sufficient time for Yunyun to do her work.
"Iris! Go look for Loby! I got-"
"EXPLOSION!"
With that, the remaining two-fifths of the undead legion got killed.
"Did you see that? That is the power of my Explosion!" Loby boasted as he pointed his staff at the Dullahan.
"Where..." I covered my eyes with my right hand and shivered.
"Onii-chan? Are you okay?"
"Where..."
"Onii... chan...?"
"Where the fk have you been, you little bastard?!" I yelled at the one who was missing earlier, as I clenched my fist.
"Ah." A deep voice spoke, which was the Dullahan, Beldia.
"...Consider yourselves lucky, Magic Swordmaster. I will definitely take you all out the next time we met." Beldia turned around and left us alone.
Iris and I exchanged looks.
"...What the fk...?"
"Heh heh, did you see my Explosion?" Loby said pridefully as he raised his staff.
"You...!"
Two minutes of me trying to yeet Loby across the village and Iris trying to stop me doing that later...
"Really. Missing at a time like this? Anyway, since there is no one left to bother us right now, it would be the best for us to find that book before somebody mess things up again. We will search the book in pairs, considering Yunyun and Loby might forgot the location of the book." I glanced at them. "Yunyun and Loby, take either Chris or Karu with you, so that they could cover you if you got into some trouble. I will use the Shadow Wolf to help track the book down. Iris is with me. Inform us through the communicating devices once you found the book. If there's no problem, move." I sighed in resignation as I told them to find the book in pairs.
"Summon Core Constellation: Shadow Wolf." I summoned the Shadow Wolf to sniff (literally) the book out with Iris.
By the way, I have put on a leash on the Shadow Wolf, in case it went wild and attack the familiars, as the familiars for the Crimson Demons were cats, or so I heard.
And then, the Shadow Wolf searched and sniffed around as we looked at our surroundings.
After a few minutes, the Shadow Wolf smelled something as it started to pull me to a direction, which led us to an abandoned facility (It looks like a school, but I wasn't very certain about that, so I will just call it a facility) hidden in the woods.
At the abandoned facility...
"Thanks." I gave the Shadow Wolf a headpat, which turned into the Shadow Core after a few seconds of enjoying the headpat.
"Iris, put this on." I handed Iris the Shadow Core, which the latter got what I meant and activated it.
"Check your Adventurer Card, there should be a skill called Treasure Detection. Activate the skill and see if there is any object that is similar to a book." I turned my attention to Iris as I pulled my sword out and started to channel some mana into the sword.
"I understand." Iris answered as she closed her eyes and concentrate.
A few seconds later...
"I found it, Onii-"
"Nya~"
"Kya!" Iris and I hugged each other in surprise as we didn't expect there is something else was here at the moment.
"It was a cat, huh...?" I sighed in relief as we let go of each other.
"Burlica! Come back!" A boy with a familiar red wizard attire came out of the bushes.
"Ah."
"Ah."
A few seconds later...
"Ok, since when are you here? What did you see?" I asked Loby with a blank expression.
"He has seen nothing." Chris replied, even though she knew full well he had seen everything.
"Well, fine then. Let's go." I shrugged my shoulders as I pulled my sword out, channel some mana into the sword and opened the door.
"Excalibur." I channeled my mana into the sword and raised it like a torch.
"Over there!" Iris pointed towards the darkest room in the facility. A stench of rotten flesh came from the room Iris pointed.
"That doesn't feel auspicious for me. Be on your guard and prepare yourselves from unknown danger. Chris, use the Enemy Detection skill and see what you can find here. Something's wrong. I can feel it." I told them while I moved forward and readied my sword for any surprise attacks.
I opened the door and found a young girl lying in a puddle of blood in the middle of the room. It was safe to assume that she died for a few days, or even weeks, because her body - you know what? I am not going to describe the condition of the corpse since it could be too gruesome. I will just tell you these things: the girl died with her eyes opened and judging from her wounds, it couldn't be more clearer that she was brutally murdered, as for the rest, please forgive me for not disclosing the status of corpse in order to protect your mental well-being.
"How could this happen...?" I muttered to myself as I couldn't believe somebody could kill a young girl like that.
"Now, whatever you do, don't look towards my direction. Stay alert and look out for any hidden enemies - they might be watching us from somewhere in this warehouse." I commanded calmly as I tried not to throw up.
'Poor girl... Hm?'
I looked a bit closer and noticed that she held a book in her arms. So I sheathed my sword back, moved her arms aside and grabbed the book.
Then, I opened the book and started to read it.
You thought that was the book we were looking for, but it was blank.
"Wait what the hell-"
"Guardian! Someone's coming! At your 11'o clock direction!" Chris warned as she drew her dagger.
Me, on the other hand, hid the book in the blue Summoning Scroll.
After that, I drew my sword and prepare for the fight.
I looked around and saw a suspicious shadow.
So, as you may have expected, I advanced towards the figure slowly, and then raised my sword as I channeled some mana into the sword.
And a person who wore a creepy ventriloquist doll mask appeared in front of me. However, the person's eyes weren't covered. I couldn't tell what was he feeling at that time, since the look in his eyes were void, lifeless. He wore a white tightsuit (maybe, as his body was pure white) and held a blunt cleaver, which had stains of blood on it.
I swung the sword in attempt to disperse him while I try not to look into his eyes as I got goosebumps just by looking at his eyes. As a matter of fact, I averted my gaze from the mask, since it was quite unnerving to look at the mask with that leary look in his eyes.
'Whirlwind Flash Sword.' I shouted the skill internally as I spun my sword and cut his arms off before he brought the cleaver down to my head. Then, I impaled his throat with my sword.
"You will not be missed." I said in a slightly stern tone.
All of a sudden, I heard some deranged laughter. That man on the other hand, wriggled his body in an extremely unnatural way, which humans are incapable to do that.
It was at this moment I knew something was off.
That white body, that deranged laughter of his, and the way he wriggled his body, resembled Kunekune (note: a Japanese urban legend) a lot. It was like Kunekune itself got here as well.
"Don't look at my direction unless you want to turn insane! Sacred Thunderbolt!" I closed my eyes and shouted at my party members as I unleashed a network of thin light beams and shred him to pieces.
After that, I breathed heavily out of the fatigue and trying my best to forgot that man's mask. Even though I couldn't in the end, as the head kept laughing due to the fact it remained intact.
"Loby, burn that guy's remains completely after I carried the girl's corpse. Leave his head to me." I instructed Loby as I bent down, closed her eyes and carried her bridal style.
"Understood." Loby answered as he gathered the scattered body parts in one place.
"Inferno." Loby cast Inferno and burned his body into ashes.
I grabbed two shovels, one for me and the other for Iris. Then we dug a hole to bury the dead girl.
"Thank you for protecting the book with your life. Rest at ease, brave one." I thanked the girl as I placed the corpse into the hole.
After that, we buried her and made a stela for her.
"What should I write...? Ah! I got it! Sacred Thunderbolt."
A few minutes later...
"Here we are!" I looked at the stone tablet as I nodded in satisfaction.
"Yes, befitting for a brave girl like her." Iris put her hand on my shoulder as she let out a smile.
"Right." I replied with a slightly broken smile as I thrust the stone tablet in front of the burial site. The tablet wrote: 'Here lies a brave girl who sacrificed her life to protect the world. Goodbye, and thank you. Set up by the Magic Swordmaster, Guardian and Iris.'
We rose as we saluted the grave.
"Your heroic deeds will not be forgotten." I said as I continued saluting the grave.
Then I turned my attention onto the creepy head, which was still laughing up to that moment.
"Burn... in the flames of Hell! Inferno!"
The head screamed in agony as it went up in flames.
"You're dead, that's good, Amen." I continued as I kept on looking at the head, which was still screaming with a crazy grin.
"Yankee to Commander Zulu! Yankee to Commander Zulu!"
"Zulu, said."
"The Demon King's Army attacked the Crimson Demon Village! I need your help! Fast, over!"
"Wilco."
I then turned on my party members.
"Alright, let's go."
Six minutes later...
"Hold it in! We got to make it until the reinforcements arrive!" Yunyun shouted as she kept on slicing monsters with Light of Saber.
"Sacred Thunderbolt!"
A network of light beams tore through a company of armored monsters.
"Guardian-san!" Yunyun said in relief as reinforcements (namely us) arrived at the scene.
I charged into the legion of monsters with Iris while Loby stood next to Yunyun and started to conjure lines for the incantation.
"I am going!"
"Loby, wait-"
"Strike forth, Explosion!" Loby pointed his staff at the legion and cast the magic spell he liked the most - Explosion.
"Fk!" I muttered as I saw the magic circle for Explosion.
I took off my trenchcoat and made Iris put it on. Then, I pinned her down, with me on top of her as the Explosion descend unto me.
I couldn't use the Water Absorb Shield at that moment since this will nullify the spell and ends up with everyone being exposed to danger once again.
So, the best I could do was to gave Iris the trenchcoat, tank the hit alone and pray that I managed to survive the blow, to protect Iris and everyone else.
In the end, I suffered from second degree burns on my back and arms as my shirt was burned away. As for my pants and boots, they remained intact due to the fire resistant properties. The Light Core dropped onto to the ground as the shirt was burned away.
Iris grabbed the Light Core, supported me by putting my arm on her shoulder and walked towards the Crimson Demon Village slowly as she saw me staggering and the blood at the corners of my mouth.
"That's not it! How could you cast Explosion when Guardian-san and Iris-san were still in there?!"
"It doesn't matter! Look, another legion of the Demon King's Army got eradicated by my Explosion, right? With that, I have proved I am worthy to claim the title of the foremost Archwizard in the Belzerg Kingdom!"
"You couldn't just neglect the lives of your party members for that!"
Meanwhile...
"Tha-"
"Please don't talk at this moment, Onii-chan. You are currently heavily injured. It would be the best for you to save your energy and keep walking." Iris pressed her hand on my chest and prevent me falling face-first onto the ground.
"Thanks..." I croaked with a hoarse voice before I barfed some blood and stained Iris' combat shirt.
"Geez! I told you to keep quiet, didn't I?" Iris said in slight exasperation as we continued walking slowly.
Chris glanced over at our direction.
"Over there!" Chris pointed at us.
"Ah! Guardian-san! Iris-san! Are you two alright?" Yunyun ran towards us in concern.
"I am fine. But Onii-chan is not..." Iris answered as she put me down carefully.
Karu tossed Iris a healing potion.
"Let the Magic Swordmaster drink this. The potion should help in alleviating his injuries. There isn't much the potion can do, but that's all I had."
"Thank you." Iris answered as she positioned my head carefully with her hand and fed me the potion.
"Guardian wouldn't be able to leave the village at this battered state. How about we stay here for a few days? I think we should give him time to heal and to decipher the book." Loby suggested as he raised his hand.
"Onii-chan, what are you doing? Please don't push yourself any further!" Iris cried as she tried to hold my hand down as I tried to reach for the blue Summoning Scroll.
"Pull... the blue... Summoning Scroll... out." I said in a raspy voice.
'But Onii-chan doesn't have enough mana... Oh right!'
Iris took the blue Summoning Scroll out from my pants and wiped a drop of blood from my mouth with her finger.
"Summon!" Iris jabbed onto the magic circle within the Summoning Scroll and summoned the book.
"Here." Iris said as she handed the book to Yunyun.
"Guardian and Iris can go to my house while Chris and Karu can go to yours." Loby suggested. "And I can give you a lift as well."
"Thanks... But I refuse (Daga Kotowaru)." I gave him a smile as I turned him down.
"Huh? Why?"
"Because I enjoyed Iris supporting me." I said weakly as I stuck my tongue out at Loby.
"But... I will take up your offer if Iris doesn't want to help me to your home." I smiled as I turned my attention onto Iris.
"I don't care anymore. See you guys tomorrow then." Karu sighed. "Yunyun, if you please."
"See you guys tomorrow." Yunyun left the scene with Karu and Chris following her.
A/N: Well, never did I expect that this chapter would take a dark turn (kinda) here. I think I went a little bit too far, tehepero~ (｡･ ω･ )ゞ
Anyway, I hope you guys still enjoyed the story.
And I would like to thank those who kept on reading the story, that meant a lot to me.
Stay tuned for next chapter!