Chapter 42 - 1+1

Twins.

That word brought something to mind. A brother and sister I had fought at some point in my previous life.

I swiped through the achievement list, looking for them. If I was going to fight them again anyway, I might as well aim for some coins, too.

They hadn't been officers in the Death God's cult, but they should at least count as named enemies. That ought to put them on the achievement list.

[Kill the Death God's cult's twin brother and sister]

-2,000 coins

"Thought so."

That was all the information the achievement offered. Names, locations, skills—not one of those was listed.

Still, I knew most of the cult's heavy hitters, so even a label like "twins," rather than their actual names, immediately brought their faces to mind.

Apparently, the Stage 1 perk I'd acquired a while back was useful for quite a bit more than just opening the achievement shop.

The greater their combat strength—in other words, the harder the achievement was to complete—the more coins it awarded. I'd realized that earlier, when I sorted the list by highest coin reward.

Being able to view the cult's members ranked by their coin rewards meant...

"Couldn't I... use this to measure combat strength?"

Wasn't this practically an enemy encyclopedia? It didn't just tell me how many coins I could earn. It also let me compare my enemies' strength in detail.

"... Though I doubt that's what this ability was intended for."

Anyway, the reward was two thousand coins. Since it specified the twins, plural, it didn't seem to offer a thousand coins for each one. Two thousand for the pair. It seemed I'd have to kill them both at the same time to collect.

Well, that shouldn't matter. I'd fought them two-on-one in my previous life, too.

Even without any information in the achievement list, I had my memories. I'd faced them myself.

The twins had opposing abilities. The elder, the man, had a body immune to magic. The younger, the woman, was immune to physical attacks.

That was why they counted as named enemies despite not being overwhelmingly powerful. Enemies with the keyword "immune" were a nuisance in any game, weren't they?

You could develop Laward along the [Swordsman] route, the mage route, and several others, but unless you chose the magic swordsman route, the twins were bound to be a difficult fight.

So winning a two-on-two battle alongside a heroine was probably one of the game's events.

I'd fought the two of them alone in my previous life, but having a girl around made it two-on-two?

The world was unfair...

And right now, things weren't just unfair. I was at a disadvantage.

By the time I'd met them in my previous life, I'd acquired two spirits. When magic didn't work, I used the iron spirit. When physical attacks didn't work, I used light.

But the iron spirit was still with my father. Facing the elder twin, who was immune to magical attacks, wouldn't be easy.

I could bring someone along to handle him, but I had no idea when the fight would happen. These two didn't issue challenges. They were more likely to ambush me from behind and go for my throat.

"Maybe I should've learned at least a little swordsmanship."

Someone had even offered to teach me. None other than the Sword Saint, at that...

Well, dwelling on it now wouldn't get me anywhere.

I admitted they'd be tricky, but honestly, I didn't think I'd lose. Just before the apocalypse, I'd been fighting officers, not thousand-coin enemies. They'd been worth ten thousand coins each.

Of course, I wasn't in the same shape I'd been in back then, but I'd give it a shot.

Come on, then. Come at me.

I left the academy and returned to my old lodgings. Since so many people sent letters here, I'd decided to stay here most of the time unless I had business at Houndry.

Besides, Lucia had been doing a good job filling in for me lately.

"Welcome back, Lord Daywin."

The manager bowed his head.

"Shall I have dinner brought up to your room?"

"Yes, please."

"We have beef and fish available this evening. Which would you prefer?"

"Beef, then."

"Very good, sir."

The manager bowed once more.

"Enjoy your evening."

It was expensive, but having everything taken care of certainly made life comfortable. And I'd indulged in the luxury of leaving a place like this empty while I stayed in a barren room.

"Hmm."

After a leisurely soak in the tub, I emerged to find an appetizing meal on the table. Someone had come and gone without my noticing.

A place to stay, a bath, a meal. Feeling thoroughly satisfied with that perfect trio, I picked up my knife.

CRAAASH!

A spear came flying through the window and slammed into me.

042

"Tch. Still alive after that?"

An unfamiliar voice reached me as my senses returned.

Strictly speaking, it probably wasn't entirely unfamiliar. I would have heard it once, years ago.

Two silhouettes leaped through the shattered window in a single bound, even though this was the third floor.

Two figures. A large man and a small woman. The larger one was the elder brother; the smaller one, his younger sister. He looked stern, while she had a vaguely delinquent air.

I recognized the woman at once, perhaps because of her pink hair. Seeing the younger twin finally brought her name back to me.

Lucy.

Her brother's name, on the other hand, completely escaped me. Men's names were a waste of long-term memory slots.

Names aside, the elder twin was enormous, tall enough that I suspected he stood well over two meters.

Of the two, I'd wanted to meet the younger sister, the one immune to physical attacks. But naturally, they'd both shown up.

They'd actually come because I'd told them to?

... I hadn't meant quite this immediately.

"Can't be helped. Paladins are tough!"

"Hmm."

"They all learn a little healing magic so they can heal themselves while they fight, right? Isn't that hilarious? Stubbornly healing themselves over and over just to keep fighting. So stupid! So stupid! That's why paladins are..."

"Cockroaches," the larger twin muttered in a low voice.

Oh, right. We had that nickname, too.

"But that resilience isn't the issue."

The man knelt on one knee and stared straight at me. I'd caught the spear in one hand and now held it tight against my side.

"You managed to defend yourself in that split second?"

More precisely, he was staring at the pure white armor I wore.

WHOOSH!

The elder twin raised a hand, summoning the spear out of my grip. It snapped into his palm as though drawn by a magnet.

Just then—

SLASH!

The area around my window broke again. Or rather, it was sliced cleanly down the middle.

What was that?

"Huh?"

The younger twin whipped her head around and walked over to the window.

"What's wrong?"

"Something just... I'll go check!"

She abruptly sprang out the window.

That left just the elder brother and me. An awkward silence settled between us.

"... Must be hard, having a sister who does whatever she wants."

Ah, damn. I would've preferred the younger twin to stay. Why did I have to be left with this hulking brute, my direct counter?

What a pain.

"Something like that. Do you have younger siblings, too?"

"Just two older brothers."

I looked up at his massive frame and gave a short laugh.

"Surely you know that much?"

Weren't you people the ones who'd tried to kill one of those two brothers?

I asked as though I knew everything. He answered by ignoring the question.

"Stand up. That couldn't have hurt you much."

"I really don't like you looking down on me."

"You should've grown taller."

As he furrowed his brows in irritation—

BOOM!

The light spirit I'd hidden behind his legs exploded.

Magic didn't work on him, but he wasn't my target anyway.

Instead, I blew up the floor.

"Gah!"

He fell to the floor below amid shattered tiles. Sprawled ignominiously on the ground, he looked up at me through the gaping hole.

What could I say? Smashing ceilings and blowing holes in floors were my specialties.

"That's a much better view."

"You and your pathetic tricks..."

But this was a man who'd leaped straight into a third-floor room. Falling to the second floor wouldn't stop him. One standing jump would bring him right back up.

HUMMM...

So I sent five spirits pouring down to the second floor.

BOOM! BOOM-BOOM!

He crossed his arms in an X to shield himself from the spirits exploding before his eyes. Even if magic couldn't hurt him, he couldn't simply ignore spirits giving off intense heat and blinding flashes.

Meanwhile, I moved to the window, just as his sister had.

"Ghh... Don't run away!"

The elder twin shouted from the second floor, but I ignored him and raised my hand.

* * *

A short while later.

"What are you doing down here?"

A pink-haired head poked through the gaping hole between the second and third floors.

"Tch. Lucy... It's you. Did you see him? I think he went your way."

"Hmm, no. So what are you doing down here?"

"I let my guard down. Damn it. Did he get away...?"

The elder brother rested his spear on his shoulder and sighed.

"He can't have gone far. We'll have to search again."

"He ran away already? I thought a paladin would choose to fight head-on."

"So did I. But judging by how he blocked our ambush, he's no ordinary man. I can see why he was a candidate for the Five Lamps. Lucy, don't let your guard down."

"I won't, I won't. Remind me who let his guard down and lost him?"

"... We'll have to search together, then."

"It would've been nice to finish him off as soon as we found him. Now it's a whole hassle..."

"Because you suddenly left."

"Ha! You're blaming me? Who was it who said to leave it to him because he had the favorable matchup or whatever?"

"I never said that."

"Oh, didn't you? Here."

An arm reached down through the open hole.

"Grab on. How long are you planning to stay down there?"

"Right."

With a grunt, the elder brother leaped up and caught the offered arm.

As he was being pulled up, he tilted his head.

"Lucy? Your face looks a little differ—"

SHUNK!

The moment he noticed, a short blade sank into his neck.

A steak knife. The blunt knife pierced his throat and drove deep inside.

"You... What the..."

"Blood really is thicker than water. You recognized the difference as soon as you got close."

Lucy's appearance dissolved like mist.

And the Lucy holding his arm—

Me.

I raised my left hand, making a show of the ring on it. The Ring of Disguise.

"Though it looks like you're already too late."

SLASH!

I pulled the knife out of his neck and swung it, severing his wrist as well.

THUD!

His massive body fell back onto the second-floor floor.

Ugh.

His huge hand was still gripping my wrist. Disgusted, I hurriedly pried it off.

"You... baaaastard...!"

He thrashed, using his one remaining hand to stanch the blood spurting from his neck.

"You just had to show up while I was eating."

CLATTER!

I carelessly tossed aside the bloodied knife.

"Sure, it meant I had a weapon, but look at this."

I pointed at the white bathrobe beneath my armor.

"That... ring...?"

He narrowed his eyes at the Ring of Disguise.

"Even with a magic item... how could you copy my sister after seeing her just once...?"

"It wasn't just once."

Cutting him off, I hopped down to the second floor.

"What...?"

"Get up. You're not the kind of bastard who'd croak from this, are you?"

As I mimicked what he'd said earlier, his legs stirred as though he'd been waiting for those words.

But this wasn't how he'd moved when he boldly leaped up to the third floor. He staggered painfully to his feet, one hand clamped over his neck.

At the same time, I buffed my spirits. The same buffs for all four: accuracy and movement speed.

Once I'd boosted their stats, I attached them to my armor, one each on my arms and legs.

"Who would've thought I'd fight someone with only one arm left twice in a row?"

I took a fighting stance.

"Actually, you've still got both arms, at least."

At my taunt, he clenched his teeth and charged, his footsteps thundering.

"You cowardly bastard... And you call yourself a paladin..."

"I'm getting really tired of hearing that."

HUMMM...

The spirits attached to my armor shone, preparing to launch themselves.

BOOM!

The armor on my left arm shot forward with tremendous explosive force. My fist followed on its own, far faster than I could ever have swung it myself.

CRACK!

My fist shot out in a flash and landed squarely on the brute's jaw.

I'd expected that to knock him out, but even with his jaw dislocated, he tried to grab me with his one hand.

At that instant—

BOOM!

My right leg this time. The greave, tinted with the spirit's light, shot forward like an arrow, driving my knee into his solar plexus.

"Ghurk...!"

He spat blood and stumbled backward. I closed the gap with quick, short steps.

HUMMM...

Every spirit attached to my armor glowed as it gathered power.

CRUNCH! CRACK! THUD!

I let the spirits propel my armor and unleashed a barrage of blows. Since my body was being forcibly dragged along with the armor, pain shot through me with every punch and kick.

It would've been so convenient to finish him off by detonating spirits from a distance, but only physical attacks worked on him.

I'd just have to beat him to death.