After saving the blacksmith, we returned to the Royal Castle... then made our trip back to the forge once again.
Now, before you yeet your phone or computer, I just want to say that, this decision was made as we believe there is a chance the unknown people may return and it would be the same thing all over again. So, it would be better safe than sorry for this case.
We went back to the forge and brought the blacksmith and his assistant with us. They would be upgrading the Core System in the Royal Castle - which is literally the safest place in the entire Belzerg Kingdom.
After escorting these two VIPs (for now) and moving their equipment into the Royal Castle, Iris volunteered to treat my wound.
Yes, you hear it. The Core Outfits isn't completely invincible after all, even the fabric that made the Core Outfits can protect its user from piercing or penetrating trauma like stabbing or arrows, and can withstand Advanced magic like Explosion, yet it could not negate the blunt force trauma. Matter of fact, it could only minimise the damage by spreading the trauma. It wasn't the most ideal counter-mechanism, but if you ask me which would I rather, an arm with a large bruise or a slightly fractured one, I would rather the former.
Well, I would say because I can get Iris to do different things for me if you ask me, it is true that both receive a similar treatment, but still, a bruised arm can also get a massage as well if you think about it.
Even though I know a fractured arm can make things last longer, it is no match against massage from a cute girl.
Speaking of which, I remembered that insanely soft and warm sensation of Iris' hands back when we visited Loby's house. Man, she's the best, isn't she?
...
Hmm?
...
I'm sorry.
At any rate, I was still assigned to stay by Iris' side. I was still a force to be reckoned with, according to Rain-san as I could still cast various kinds of magic with one hand. I also have a few tricks up my sleeve that can incapacitate enemies clean and fast.
His Majesty also somehow knew what happened a few hours prior, as he sent me a mail to compliment my wits and courage in saving the blacksmith and protecting the Princess, aka Iris.
He also told Iris to ask whether or not the blacksmith wants to join the Royal Guild of Blacksmiths, which she did.
As far as I heard, she was told to take care of me as well.
He was located at the highest level with the maximum level security, this is what Alicia stated, to say the least.
She also mentioned that she would take up the security duty as well, which is reassuring news.
On top of that, she would call Amai and Loby to give a helping hand in protecting the blacksmith, which make the news even more reassuring.
"With all that done... Iris, if you please." I extended my arm towards Iris, who then rolled up the right sleeve of the jacket.
"But Magic Swordmaster-san, there was not any apparent injuries on your arm?" Iris asked skeptically as she gave me an unamused look.
"My apologies, Your Highness." I spoke in a rather mocking tone. "It may not seem like an injury to you, but this is in fact a sign of a heavily bruised arm." I continued as I rolled my eyes in slight exasperation.
"Onii-sama is a liar."
"Iris-sama is a conspiracy theorist."
Silence filled the entire room as we had a staring contest.
"I blocked the forge hammer for you, right? Not to mention, I am unable to raise my arm, which is also proof that I am injured at the moment. So, could you help me apply the ointment please, Iris-sama?" I asked with a rather polite tone.
"I refuse. Onii-sama is going to take advantage of that, is that not right?"
"Definitely not, Iris-sama. That is what His Majesty said- you were decreed to take care of me."
"On top of that, I think of all the people I know, you are the one who knew me the best. I don't really lie that often." I continued.
"It could not be helped... Only this once, do you understand?" Iris sighed as she opened the lid.
"Thank you very much, Iris-sama." I thanked her as Iris placed my arm onto her lap.
Then she used her thumb to tap the ointment.
"Let's see, was it right there?" Iris poked my forearm as she was trying to find the wound, as it was yet to be visible.
"Ow! Be gentle please." I cried out in pain as I requested Iris not to do something like poking at the bruise.
"That's the spot, huh...?" Iris muttered to herself as she began to massage the bruise gently.
The massage still hurts not gonna lie, but it was way better as time passed.
"Does the massage feel good, Onii-sama?" Iris spoke in a somewhat passive-aggressive tone as she massaged in medium strength.
"You had me in the first half, not gonna lie." I answered as my expression turned into a relaxed one. "But Iris-sama, I could only say you were good at this."
"Just give it a few hours and you will find that I did not lie to you for the entire time, Iris-sama." I spoke with a resigned tone as I placed my right hand on my stomach after Iris finished massaging my arm.
"Ano, Onii-sama?"
"Yes, what is it, Iris-sama?"
"Could you stop adding honorifics after my name please?" Iris asked with a somewhat tired tone.
"No problem, after you cease to address me as Onii-sama." I responded with a yawn.
An awkward silence filled the room as neither of us said a word.
"How about this, I will start addressing you as Iris as soon as you call me 'Onii-chan'. Does that sound good?" I told Iris in a tone that usually used to console kids.
"I understood. Let's call each other in a count of 3." Iris replied in a nod.
"3..."
"2..."
"1..."
"Onii-sama!"
"Iris-"
...
...
"...sama."
A few moments later...
I decided to give zero fks on dining etiquette as my arm is injured.
Not to mention, the etiquette is too annoying for me.
The nobles said that different kinds of food have different etiquettes; I would say fk them.
After placing my arm on the table, I pointed my right index finger at the steak and a fork in my left hand.
"Sacred Thunderbolt." I chanted as a small cream coloured beam cut the steak into pieces.
"With all that, thank you for the food."
"Kisama...!" Claire spoke in a somewhat murderous tone as she glared at me harshly.
"Is there a problem, Symphonia-san? As you can see, my arm is injured." I pointed at the large purple spot on my right arm.
"Of course there is! You still have to follow the etiquette even you are wounded!" Claire slammed her fists on the table.
"Did that etiquette of yours mention anything about slamming your fists on the table?" I returned Claire with a sharp stare and a comeback.
Claire sat on the chair reluctantly without saying a word as she could not argue against my comeback.
"Here is what I opine: We are all living beings, and the etiquette you nobles kept talking about has no life. Not to mention that it has no legal binding power, we should be able to do anything that does not offend the law, as obeying the law also protects the rights of others. If you use that just because you think you are superior, you are not only wrong, but also stupid. Testing the food beforehand? I agree, as you need to ensure the cook did not poison the food. But it isn't right for Your Highness to sit and wait for it beforehand. Just test it yourself if you are paranoid."
I left the dining room with Iris after we finished our dinner in like half an hour.
"Good evening, Iris-sama, Guardian." Alicia greeted us with a salute.
"Good evening, Alicia. How were things progressing?"
"The blacksmith was giving in his all in upgrading your equipment. He also asked me if you have any names in mind." Alicia informed me of the progress and asked me calmly.
"Please tell him that he is free to give out names, as I don't really care about that matter, thank you." I responded accordingly and thanked Alicia afterwards.
"Thank you for looking over the blacksmith, Alicia. Please keep up the good work." Iris thanked Alicia for her hard work as well.
"There is no need to thank me, it is merely my duty." Alicia answered before she went off.
And so, we went back to Iris' bedroom and called it a day.
The next day...
The blacksmith called me over to hear the progress of the upgrades.
I wanted to escort Iris yet, White Suit and Atsurugi forced that the latter took on the duty of escorting Iris.
I tried to fight against them in terms of authority. However, my own coat of arms allowed me to command over any house other the Royal Family in emergency situations. So my coat of arms has no authority over a high-ranked noble under normal circumstances. I would say I am Claire's equal at max.
I am sure it is just the former's hatred and jealousy against me, that's all.
Yeah, I will be sure to meet with her and have some fun together after all this is settled.
So currently, the blacksmith was hammering another piece of metal while his assistant was filling me in with the details.
"Let's talk about why the shape of the Core changed. So after your battle against the God of Darkness and his subordinates, the Light Core was severely damaged and we barely able salvage what is left of it and made a rather more dynamic core."
"Is that so? I appreciate your help. And the progress of the new Core Outfit?" I thanked the assistant and ask about the soon to be crowd control Core Outfit.
"Only the subwoofers were done. They have a function as megaphones, subsonic wave launchers and..."
"And what?"
"...Play music whenever you want." The assistant lowered his head in embarrassment as he thought that was a dumb answer.
"Is that serious?" I asked with a poker face.
"Ohh, I like it. Thank you for your creativity." I complimented the idea as the assistant nodded his head in fear.
"Attention all units. Intruders spotted in the Royal Castle!" The Castle's speakers blared in their maximum volume and did an earrape to my ears.
"Commander Zulu! Commander Zulu! You have to get over here as soon as possible!" Alicia's voice rang through the communication device.
"Alpha, I would hate to break it to you, but I am currently busy at the moment."
"Iris-sama was at the scene!"
...
"Erm, Guardian-san...?" The assistant asked in a concerned tone.
"I'm sorry oyabun! Fetch me the Core System please!"
"So take this. You should be able to play music at will." The assistant handed me two identical cuboid objects and the cross-shaped core.
"Alright then!" I muttered to myself as I played Destron Revival (part 4).
"I ain't going to tell you the upgraded features on the Outfit! You go ahead and give it a test run!" The blacksmith shouted as he continued to hammer the piece of metal.
"Understood, thank you!"
"Commander Zulu! Please hurry up! The unknown intruders are beating Matsurugi in a one-sided battle!" Alicia pleaded on the other end of the conversation.
'Let's go.' I thought to myself as the subwoofers played the first part of Stand! Pretender!
And then I left the room and headed off to where Iris was.
"Hoh... Let's see what this Core Outfit got." I muttered to myself as a small magic circle appeared in front of my right eye and the subwoofers played the first part of "End of Earth's Great Decisive Battle" while I was running towards the fight.
"Ah, what is going on...?!" I cried out in pain as I clutched the left side of my chest and knelt on one knee. The subwoofers also stopped playing music abruptly during that moment.
Then, I rose abruptly as I felt an uncontrollable rage building up within my body rapidly.
"Damn...!" I shouted as the subwoofers played the fifth part of "Hero of the Universe - Star Saber".
Meanwhile...
"Kutabare, brat!" A huge man bellowed as he stepped upon Kitsurugi.
1st part of Stand Pretender playing in the distance*
'Sacred Straightbolt.' I muttered as a straight light beam came out of my fist.
"Hmm?" The huge warrior looked at my direction, had a Sacred Straightbolt in the face and went flying.
"Who is that?" Another intruder asked as he stood still.
"It's an adventurer!" The third intruder came to his senses and cast blunt force magic at me with the second intruder.
I tanked the blunt force magic as I advanced, then a silver-coloured hoof folded out of the right wrist and slammed it into the right intruder's face.
As for the intruder on the left, I tackled him onto the ground.
And both intruders got back up quickly and eyed me, trying to figure out who I am.
I heard that the Demon King Army and the Cult recognise me by my core, especially the old version of the Light Core, or so as I heard from Saki-san two or three months ago.
Well, let's hope they don't actually do that, albeit the fact they have a large chance of doing so-
"Kisama! You are a new adventurer, are you?"
...It is hard to stomach the fact they actually recognise me by the core instead of the person.
Look, I am not a person who seeks for fame, unlike that certain someone over there. But that's just too dumb for people to actually do that.
I mean, it would be a pain in the ass for people to recognise the core instead of the person.
After all, the Core System isn't a cheat- uh I mean divine relic. I don't know if the Cult actually came across with a divine relic before, but the divine relics are usually rendered useless when they fell into the hands of literally anyone other than the original owner, like that certain someone with his overpowered cursed sword.
Don't ask me why this rule or setting exists in this world, that is exactly how the world works.
But it wouldn't hurt for the reincarnated people authorized those who were trustworthy in their book to use their original weapons or abilities, if you ask me.
It wouldn't make a large difference at the moment anyway, considering the fact the upgraded Core Outfit felt off all of a sudden.
Back to the story, I made no response as I was contemplating on how they recognise me.
And the intruders got triggered as they thought I paid them no heed and didn't perceive them as opponents.
"Summon attack!" The intruders summoned an eagle and a tiger respectively.
I pulled my sword out and swung, then took both animals out with a swing of my sword.
Then, I leapt and hit one of them in the face with a brass knuckle and kicked the other on the head.
I didn't know what happened at the moment, but the intruders groaned in pain.
Meanwhile, the burly intruder came back to his senses, raised his halberd and pointed at me.
Then an energy beam shot out from the halberd, so I leapt and dodged the beam as a response.
Not gonna lie, this sounds like it came from a sci-fi story if you just read the last sentence without any context.
Alright, let's focus on the story. And then he hit his comrades with Friendly Fire.
I sheathed my sword and folded out the horseshoe brass knuckles, which glowed in white.
If you have learned physics, you should know objects glow in different colours when they reached certain temperatures.
The burly intruder cried in pain after I grabbed his forearm with the brass knuckles. He then kneed me in the stomach and made me flinch and took a few steps back.
"Onore...!" The burly intruder muttered as he checked his forearm before he lunged at me.
I advanced wordlessly as I retracted the brass knuckles, and then launched a straight light beam at his stomach and sent him flying.
The intruder then dashed next to Iris and held her in his grip.
"Try and hit me, if you really can...! I dare you!" He threatened as he drew his dagger.
I missed the target with my first shot.
However, I launched another straight beam of light at his face at the moment he loosened his grip onto Iris before he could react and actually do anything.
The three fleed as I advanced and stood in front of Iris.
"Onii-sama...!" Iris muttered in a somewhat exclaimed tone as she crossed her eyes.
"Y'all aren't getting away like this!" I drew my sword and ran after the three of them.
Meanwhile...
"Help us, please!"
"..."
The three intruders ran to the courtyard and stopped.
I stopped after I saw they stopped running.
"This is the end for you, you three!" I shouted as I concentrated my power.
The smaller intruders backed up while the burly intruder showed fear in his eyes.
The sky suddenly darkened as my power dissipated.
Meanwhile, my legs were weakened and so I fell down as well.
A man in purple with blonde hair and blue eyes walked into the courtyard, he had an eyepatch on the right side of his face, he had black and white swords, with the larger one on the right side of his back, and the smaller one located on his right waist.
"Hoh... Overlord...!" The burly intruder exclaimed like the man was his only hope to survive.
"So that's Overlord... the one who killed quite a lot of adventurers..." Amai muttered to herself as she looked over the courtyard.
"No matter how powerful he is, he's definitely not a match for the powered-up Magic Swordmaster!" Loby reassured Amai as he give out the statement confidently.
Alicia and the others stayed silent as if they knew who that Overlord was supposed to be.
Back in the courtyard...
"Magic Swordmaster..." The burly intruder called my alias.
"Excuse me, hold up for a second." I stopped him as I raised my hand.
"What?"
"I got to change the music that matches the situation." I answered as I adjusted the subwoofers, which played the fourth part of "Struggle to the Death on the Surface of the Moon".
"Okay, let's take this from the top."
"Magic Swordmaster! Your fate is at hand!" The burly intruder hollered as the four had me surrounded.
"I'm not weak to an extent where I can be beaten by the Demon King Army!" I called back as I prepared my sword and magic.
"No matter how powerful you are, you cannot defeat us!" The burly guy threw his halberd, then brought out a hammer and pounded the ground.
"Damn...!" I took a step back and dodged his attacks.
Alas, the man in purple hit me in the back with the hilt of the larger sword while I got distracted.
The small fighters kicked me into the air and the man in purple crossed his fingers and smacked me back to the ground.
"How's that? You are helpless!"
'If I lose right now, then the Royal Castle will fall into the hands of the Demon King Army...!' I thought to myself as I struggled to sit up.
'I can't lose... No matter what...!' I thought as I rose abruptly.
"C'mon, give me all you've got!" I taunted as I drew my sword.
Another fight started before I could end the previous one.
Before I knew it, my fighting style turned more violent and ruthless than before, for instance, I aimed for the head and critical spots immediately during the fight.
The smaller intruders were killed a few moments later, one decapitated before being brutally dismembered, and the other one took the Sacred Straightbolt in the head at point-blank range.
By which in the meantime, Alicia covered Iris' eyes while the others, on the other hand, looked at the scene with shocked expressions.
Well, Loby's expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief, as he remembered I disintegrated the delinquents. But this time, I literally killed two people in a cruel manner like five seconds ago. I guess from their point of view I was anything but cruel, and that what I just did was the exact opposite of what they thought of me.
"Onii-sama is not like this! I will go and ask the blacksmith what was going on!" Iris ran off towards where the blacksmith was as she refused to lose her faith in me.
"Iris-sama?! Where are you planning to go?" Alicia asked as she ran, followed by Guy with a Cursed Sword.
However, swarms of monsters stood in front of our favourite heroine and blocked the path.
"Foolish monsters, I will make you regret standing in front of Iris-sama!." That Guy brandished his Cursed Sword and raised it.
The sword glowed subsequently.
"Wait-" Before Alicia could stop the Guy from unleashing his attack, he brought the sword to the ground and broke the corridor.
...Does this guy even know the word "moderation"...?
"What the hell are you doing?!" Loby shouted as he raised his hands in exasperation.
"I killed the monsters and ensured Iris-sama's safety."
"You fkin donkey! You are going to kill Your Highness indirectly!" Loby retorted as the ceiling fell. He then cast Fireball in an attempt to destroy the falling rubble, however, the rubble was too tough to be intercepted.
Alicia dashed forward and pushed Iris out of the way, she was trapped under the pile of concrete as a result.
Meanwhile, I was fighting against the man in purple, Overlord was it? And the last intruder.
We were in a stalemate with me preparing to cast magic and aimed at the head of the last intruder and blocking Overlord's swords then pushed him back.
"Move and I'll blow your fking head off!"
Overlord concentrated his power and a reddish-black aura began to emerge from the formidable opponent.
"It would be best for his health for you to give up! Yours, too!" I spoke as I pointed my sword at him.
The aura disappeared as he was planning the next step to win the battle.
"Is there a problem, Your Highness?" The assistant asked as he approached the group.
"Why did Onii-sama turned violent and unstable?" Iris asked the assistant in a worried tone.
"It is because the blacksmith also added a protocol of allowing Guardian-san to channel off his dark side. The dark core feeds on bloodlust, the wrath of its user."
"Go die!" A goblin threw a jar of grey gas, probably ashes or something like that.
"No! I don't want to die!" Amai muttered before she gagged.
'Not on my birthday at least...'
A/N: Unfortunately this is the furthest I can do with the chapter... Amai's birthday is today (21/12, or 21 Dec to avoid confusion).
But still, there's literally no way for anyone to know that's her birthday since they barely know her.
So, instead of the OCs wishing her a Happy Birthday, how about you, who is currently read this chapter, wish her a happy birthday in their place? I think she would be more than happy if she learns the fact a lot of people celebrating her birthday.
To talk about the story, I think things were going the way as I planned it would. Like how the blacksmith prevents the Dark Core from taking over our beloved Magic Swordmaster (God that sounds extremely chuunibyou af but oh well) by setting up a protocol within the Core.
Well, actually that was different than I originally expected, not gonna lie, but hey, it made sense, to say the least, who wouldn't have the intent to kill after all that?
Anyway, thank goodness all well ends well for now.
By the way, you may look up for the music mentioned in this chapter on Youtube, if you are interested that is.
And finally, I would like to end the note by thank you for taking the time reading this chapter. I do hope you enjoyed my story and stay tuned for the next chapter.
m(_ _)m