Chapter 37: There Is No Other Way!

"R-Regent! Is this truly acceptable!?"

"Of course it isn’t acceptable! What are the guards doing!? Hurry up and arrest that perverted mob at once!"

From a curtained window on the second floor of the palace, a woman peered outside, seething with rage.

"But most of those gathered in front of the palace are citizens of the royal capital! Turning our spears on them is—!"

"Citizenship? There’s no way a disgusting group like that has any! They’re all criminals! Filth with no right to live! You may kill them! No—wipe them all out!"

"Regent! The one standing at the front is Queen Tilda!"

"What could a child possibly understand!? Children should shut up and obediently follow adults! A child who can’t listen is a defective product!"

As the woman shrieked hysterically, the knights around her lowered their heads, as if they had finally given up.

"What is it!? Are you saying even you won’t listen to me!? If you have something to say, then speak instead of standing there silently!"

"Then allow me to speak! We can no longer follow your orders—"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Be quiet! Don’t talk back, you useless trash! Anyone raised in filth turns out trash! Do you think scum from such a filthy country could ever understand my feelings!?"

Cut off mid-sentence, the knight drew his sword, his face twisted in anguish.

"...Your true intentions have been made clear. In that case, we shall no longer heed your words. We are knights of the Queen. We hereby take you into custody as a traitor to Her Majesty!"

"W-What!? So now you’ll use violence to force me to obey!? Don’t mess with me, you ◯◯◯s! ◯◯◯◯ brats really are ◯◯◯◯! You inferior ◯◯ are a nuisance just by existing! Apologize, you ◯◯◯◯!!"

With her back pressed against the curtained window, the woman ranted madly. The knights silently raised their swords and tightened the circle around her. At last, perhaps realizing words would no longer work, cold sweat ran down her anger-twisted face.

Then, without warning, the knights surrounding her collapsed to the ground.

Unable to comprehend what had just happened, the woman stared blankly at their fallen bodies. Once she realized the danger to herself had passed, she kicked the head of a knight lying at her feet, venting her rage.

"A-Ahahaha! Serves you right, you damn ◯◯◯s! That’s what you get for trying something funny with me! Die! Die! Die!"

As she danced madly atop the fallen knights, a voice called out to her.

"Ahaha, you seemed to be in quite a predicament. You’re level 1, after all. In a real fight, you wouldn’t even beat an ordinary soldier. It’d be pitiful to leave you like that, so I’ll lend you a bit of power."

At some point, a boy had appeared behind the fallen knights. When he arrived was unclear—but the woman didn’t care.

"Y-Yes! Help me, Kamui-kun! At this rate, Yuu-kun will—!"

"I’ll take this fight!"

"Wh-Wait a second, nyashougo! There’s nothing in this for us, nya!"

"Yeah! All we need is to drag Yuta’s mom out like this!"

Ririka and Dias tried to stop Shougo as he stepped forward to accept the duel, but he didn’t slow down.

"Clarice-nyan! Stop Shougo, nya!"

"Eh… once he’s like that, isn’t it impossible? A one-on-one duel is a hype situation. He’s fired up."

I think the conditions are ridiculous too, but I can’t say I don’t understand Shougo’s feelings. If my cheat ability were more combat-oriented, I might’ve stepped forward myself.

"Shougo! I entrust this to you! As my knight, defeat shall not be forgiven!"

"Shougo-san, do your best! Our fate is riding on this!"

"If you win, we’ll give you lots of special service too. Give it your all!"

"Show us the strength of the man who defeated me, oink!"

For some reason, people were already enthusiastically cheering Shougo on. A crowd gathered on momentum alone is quick to get swept up.

Shougo stepped forward to face the cross-dressing girl who had emerged alone from the palace and blocked the crowd, demanding a duel. Tightening the red headband on his forehead, he addressed her.

"To stand alone before this huge crowd to protect Yuta’s mom… you’re ‘Yuta,’ aren’t you?"

"N-N-No! I—I am Beatrix! A level 120 magic swordsman! I won’t lose to a mere level 50 brawler!"

"Even if this world was originally an RPG, level isn’t everything. You’re the one who’ll regret underestimating me."

"If I win, everyone must obey and disperse! Are you fine with that!?"

"You already know it won’t end that neatly. Even so, you’re prepared to stand and fight. In that case… there is no other way!"

Shougo spread his legs into a wide stance, lowered his center of gravity, and stomped the stone pavement hard enough to thud.

"So confident, are you!? Then I won’t hold back either!"

"Then come see for yourself!"

The cross-dressing girl, Beatrix, raised her single-edged sword and round shield.

"Here I come!"

"Bring it on!"

As the crowd erupted in cheers, Beatrix charged forward with her shield held in front, kicking off the ground. She swung the shield to strike, but Shougo blocked it with one arm, lowered his posture, and swept at her legs with a kick that scraped the ground. Beatrix lost her balance for a moment, and Shougo immediately rose from a crouch, launching an uppercut. Beatrix barely deflected it with the flat of her blade and retreated several steps to bleed off the force.

"I-I see… you’re not just an ordinary level 50 brawler…!"

"It wouldn’t be fair not to show my hand. …Here it is! Dragon Cyclone! War-Sealing Whirlwind Kick!"

Shougo closed the distance again, leaped up, raised one leg, and spun like a helicopter, unleashing a flurry of kicks. Beatrix raised her shield to block, but on the third rotation she couldn’t withstand it and was blown back, shield and all.

"Gah!?"

The crowd roared as Beatrix went down. However, having dispersed the impact with her shield, she seemed to have taken little damage and quickly got back up.

"Th-That technique…!?"

"You see it plainly. When I got dragged into this world, I happened to gain this power. The circumstances aren’t something I can brag about, but for what I believe in, I won’t hesitate to use it!"

"Then I won’t hold back either…!"

Beatrix held her sword vertically, her body enveloped in a faint glow.

"Be careful, nya! It’s a speed-up spell—movement acceleration, nya!"

At the same time, Ririka shouted the warning. Beatrix darted forward like the wind, releasing her shield mid-charge. Before gravity could fully claim it, she twisted and kicked upward from behind, aiming at Shougo’s face. Shougo crossed his arms instinctively to block, but Beatrix slammed the back of her sword down onto Shougo’s now-exposed leg.

"Guh!"

She followed up by swinging at his side, but Shougo did the unthinkable—he grabbed the blade barehanded and stopped it. Without hesitation, Beatrix released the sword as well and planted her palm against Shougo’s abdomen.

"Magic Missile!"

A flash of magic erupted from her palm, detonating against Shougo’s stomach.

"Nngh! That’s nothing!"

Shougo held his ground and fired a backfist. Beatrix hopped back to evade it, then pulled another sword and shield from empty space—her item box—and charged again, smashing him with the shield.

"Th-That’s dirty, nya! That’s cheating, nya!"

Ririka shouted her protest, and voices from the crowd rose as well, condemning Beatrix.

But Shougo, shielding his head with both arms against the shield and sword spine crashing down at ferocious speed—amplified by Beatrix’s enhancement magic—raised his voice to restrain the crowd.

"This is fine! Now it’s even!"

"Don’t push yourself!"

Beatrix continued her relentless assault, but in a fleeting opening, Shougo suddenly dropped his body low.

"Victory-Style Fist—Rising Dragon Punch!"

Beatrix’s sword sliced through empty air. From his lowered stance, Shougo launched a jumping uppercut that knocked her shield away, and at the same time drove a knee straight into Beatrix’s torso, lifting her off the ground.

"Guhaa!?"

Shougo sent Beatrix flying and landed back on the ground. Blown away by the impact, Beatrix quickly pulled replacement weapons from her item box for the sword and shield she had dropped from the uppercut’s shock, planted the blade into the ground, and forced herself back to her feet.

"...You’re still standing. Even if your body in this world is female, you’re one hell of a man, Yuta."

"L-Like I said… in this world, I’m not Yuta…! I’m Beatrix…!"

"Then we end it with the next exchange! Beatrix!"

Answering Shougo’s call, Beatrix gripped her sword and charged forward. Shougo lowered his stance to meet her head-on, but just before she reached him, Beatrix threw her shield straight at him again, aiming to blind him

"You think the same trick will work twice!?"

Shougo swatted it aside with one hand.

"Flash!"

From Beatrix’s left hand, the one that had thrown the shield, a burst of blinding light erupted. Shougo held his stance, but the intensity was so great that even we nearby instinctively averted our eyes.

"This ends it! Charge Slash!!"

Beatrix’s sword, trailing a red arc of light, surged toward Shougo—who stood motionless, still bathed in the flash.

"Shougo!"

"Shougo-san!"

Queen Tilda and Scarlet cried out. But in the next instant, the moment the glowing blade touched Shougo, his body flared blue—and a straight punch, launched faster than the eye could follow, slammed into Beatrix’s upper chest.

"Guah!?"

Beatrix staggered back, her face frozen in shock.

"Th-That was Auto Counter, nya!"

"You know that skill, Ririka!?"

I couldn’t help blurting it out in surprise at Ririka’s exclamation beside me.

"It’s a beginner skill for the Fist Fighter line in Soble, nya! He’s been saving it all this time, nya!?"

I realized then—by showcasing techniques from another game through his cheat ability, he had drawn attention away from the skills he could normally use in SBO.

Without moving his feet, Shougo slipped instantly into Beatrix’s guard, his body gliding across the ground.

"That’s Shukuchi, nya! Another Fist Fighter skill, nya!"

With her balance broken and Shougo suddenly on top of her, Beatrix desperately swung her sword upward—but before it could descend, Shougo sank his body low.

"Pierce!"

From his crouched stance, a right uppercut buried itself in Beatrix’s abdomen. In one fluid motion, he switched posture, drove a left uppercut into her chin, then kicked her stomach upward with his left knee, using the momentum to push off the ground with his right leg.

"Victory-Style Fist—Rising Dragon Punch!!!"

Still catching her with uppercuts and knee strikes, Shougo leapt into the air and blasted Beatrix high into the sky.

She slammed into the ground moments after Shougo landed. She struggled to rise, but at last her strength gave out, and she collapsed onto her back.

"...My… victory!"

Shougo raised his fist to signal his win. I almost wanted to say, that’s not your character, but before I could speak, the crowd—who had been watching in breathless silence—erupted into thunderous cheers. Scarlet, Queen Tilda, and our companions rushed toward Shougo.

"You did it, nya! I was really worried there, but I’m glad you won, nya!"

"You bastard! Don’t scare us like that!"

"Mm, as expected of my knight!"

"Shougo-san was so cool! I heard that after a duel, it’s human custom to hold a woman! Let’s start right away!"

"Enough! Keep your distance, you lewd succubus! I shall heal his wounds with my sacred magic!"

Shougo raised his right hand to stop his approaching companions, then lent his shoulder to Beatrix and helped her stand.

"Use recovery magic on her too. If she’d been slashing at me with a double-edged blade instead of striking with the spine of a single-edged sword, I’d have been cut to pieces long ago… The truth is, you didn’t really want to fight either, did you?"

"If you say that… then you too had other options. You can use Dragon Cyclone: War-Sealing Whirlwind Kick, and Victory-Style Rising Dragon Punch… You can use Hadouken too, can’t you? You could’ve fought much more safely."

"...In a man-to-man duel, you don’t use projectiles."

"That’s why I’m… Beatrix… At least in this world, I’m a woman…!"

With just that, Beatrix slumped back down where she stood. Queen Tilda cast recovery magic on both of them, healing their injuries.

As someone whose cheat abilities lean heavily toward ranged attacks, I felt conflicted—but the people around us seemed deeply moved by the exchange. For some reason, even Dias and Count Godart were wiping tears from their eyes.

What is this supposed to be… I thought, shifting my gaze toward the palace—just as the front gate Beatrix had emerged from opened once more.

"Yuu-kun!!"

A shrill cry echoed through the crowd as they watched over the two who had fought their desperate battle.