Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire ♀ Volume 10 E-Book

Hayaken

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire ♀
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 195

Beschreibung

Sixteen-year-old Inglis Eucus has more to deal with than just a haywire Artifact practically putting her back in the stroller—Eris’s weapon form as a hieral menace is broken too! What better excuse to visit Highland in search of a solution? Inglis gets everything she wants and more, with a warm—no, blistering—welcome from mechanical dragons before she even sets foot on dry land.

But as Inglis and her friends will soon learn, life is made of meetings and partings.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Chapter I: Inglis, Age 16—Far-Off Highland (1)

Chapter II: Inglis, Age 16—Far-Off Highland (2)

Chapter III: Inglis, Age 16—Far-Off Highland (3)

Chapter IV: Inglis, Age 16—Far-Off Highland (4)

Chapter V: Inglis, Age 16—Far-Off Highland (5)

Extra: Rafael’s Special Training

Afterword

Color Illustrations

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Table of Contents

Color Images

Chapter I: Inglis, Age 16—Far-Off Highland (1)

A bright blue filled Inglis’s vision from both above and below. Looking down, she saw more of it not from the sky, but from the sea.

She and her friends had taken off from Chiral, and after soaring over Karelia, they were now above the open ocean. They were on their way to a meeting with the machinator, one of Highland’s Triumvirate. However, he was also apparently the father of Ambassador Theodore as well as Rin—that is, his little sister Cyrene. There, they would arrange treatment for Eris’s weapon form, which was damaged in Inglis’s part-proposal, part-sparring match with Dux Jildegrieva. She was also to put out discreet feelers to the technicians working on Eris as to whether Rin could be cured.

And personally, she hoped a Highland defensive system or a deadly weapon of theirs would go haywire and attack her. Her match with Dux Jildegrieva had lit a fire under her. It made her want to scrap with whatever the machinator’s technological prowess had accomplished as well.

“Wow! This is so nice! The sky and the sea are both such a beautiful blue! We’ve never been in a place like this before, huh, Chris?” Rafinha stretched languidly on the deck of the flying battleship carrying them to Highland.

“Yep, this is a first.” Inglis smiled. This was a once-in-two-lifetimes experience. Definitely something worth seeing.

“Agreed. It’s stunning.” Liselotte nodded.

“Well, yes, but...” Leone peeked over at Inglis as if she wanted to say something.

“Don’t bother. Paying attention to her antics is how she gets you,” Eris warned.

Eris, Leone, Liselotte, and Rafinha were all aboard the Star Princess, which they had brought along. Inglis, meanwhile, her legs bent, was carrying it around the battleship with both hands as she chatted with Rafinha. Needless to say, the reborn hero-king was training at every possible moment. As routine as it had become recently, it was still probably a bit strange for the others to see someone who looked like she was six years old performing such feats.

“It’s already been a few days; I hope we get there soon,” Rafinha pondered. Then she turned to a Highlander knight standing nearby. “Hey, Wilma! We’re almost there, right? How much longer? How many hours, how many minutes, how many days?”

The knight was a beautiful young woman with lustrous golden hair. On her forehead was a stigmata, the mark of a Highlander. Her hair hung just a bit off her shoulders, short for a woman, which gave her a bit of an air of military discipline. She looked a little younger than Eris, and a little older than Inglis’s friends, but looks were a poor gauge of either a Highlander or a hieral menace’s age, so it was impossible to tell who was the senior. Except for her face, her entire body was covered with heavy black armor, ready for action at any time.

She was the captain of the Highland battleship which had been sent for Eris. Ambassador Theodore had his own duties to attend to in Karelia and was thus unable to accompany them. She had been the Highlander who had answered his summons. She seemed reasonable—hopefully.

However, she remained silent, ignoring Rafinha.

“Wilma! Wilma! Can you hear me?!”

“Stop bothering me.” Wilma shot a glare at Rafinha.

“Awww, but when we get to Highland, you’re supposed to show us around, right? So I thought since we’re going to spend that much time together, we should be friendly!”

Rafinha seemed to have fully embraced the idea of cross-cultural communication. And while Wilma was brusque and standoffish, she wasn’t sneering or mocking, which did seem to make her friendly for a Highlander. Rafinha took that as a sign to keep trying to befriend her.

The knight remained silent.

“C’mon, don’t ignore me, that’s mean! Wilma, you’re being mean! Wilmaaa!”

“Quiet down! Which one of us is the mean one anyway?! You’re making that little kid carry you around! That’s terrible! Are the people of the surface really such brutes?!” Wilma shot back.

Rafinha was indeed standing on the Star Princess, which the young-looking Inglis was hefting around. Wilma had no clue Inglis was just obsessed with training.

“No, Chris is the only one on the surface like this! She said she wanted it to be heavier! I’m just helping her out!”

“To be honest, this does come off in bad taste.” Eris sighed.

Inglis turned to Wilma. “How about you ride along with Rani and the others, then? I think that would show that it’s no big deal, and I’d appreciate the more intense training, so...” Wilma’s armor looked heavy—that would make for a good challenge.

“I-I would never do such a thing!” Wilma flatly refused.

“Then answer me!” Rafinha asked. “C’mon, how long until we get to Highland?”

Wilma paused before acquiescing. “We’re just under the arranged contact point. All that’s left is to...” She trailed off as the flying battleship entered a thick bank of clouds which suddenly blocked her vision. “Once we make it upward through this cloud bank...we’ll be right there.”

“Wow! We’re almost there! I wonder what it’ll be like,” Rafinha said, giddy.

“I’m really looking forward to it, Rani. I wonder if some superweapon will attack me! We’re going to the machinator’s base, so there’s probably gonna be something even more impressive than Dux Jil to see!”

“We’re not going there to fight! I’m more curious about Highland’s meals, and snacks, and maybe what kind of clothes are in fashion!”

“You’re not coming here on vacation!” Wilma scolded.

The clouds broke at that very moment, revealing a clear sky. The flying battleship had passed through the cloud bank and come out above.

“Anyway, that’s Illuminas, the home island of our machinator. You should consider yourselves honored among surface dwellers to cast your eyes on it!” Wilma pointed dead ahead as she spoke proudly.

But all that the rest of them could see was more of the same bright blue sky.

“Huh? Uh, Wilma, there isn’t anything there.”

“As expected.” Wilma smiled knowingly.

“Hm?”

“Camouflage. Our islands can be hidden, made to blend in with the sky. It’s something our advanced technology, unrivaled even by the Altar, can do.”

“Really? That’s so cool!” Rafinha said.

“It looks like there’s nothing at all there. Quite impressive...” Liselotte agreed.

“Yes. I guess everything here is different from the surface.” Leone was impressed as well. They were all starting to understand the power of Highland technology.

“Eris...do you sense the flow of mana?” Inglis asked.

“Huh? No, but I don’t think it works like that?”

“I’m not sure, but things seem too quiet... Wilma, is Highland really there?”

“Stop with the nonsense. That’s our point of contact. Are you trying to imply we’re deceiving you? What would we stand to gain from doing that?”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way, just maybe something unexpected happened...”

As Inglis spoke, another Highland soldier ran to report to Wilma. Unlike hers, their face was completely covered by a helmet and could not be seen at all.

“Captain! We’ve lost contact with Illuminas!”

“What?! But it’s right there, just camouflaged!”

“There’s no sign of the camouflage magic, ma’am!”

“What the—?! So it really isn’t there?! What’s going—”

Splashhhhhhh!

The earsplitting sound of a gigantic rush of water rose up to them from far below, as if even the water itself had come this high.

Rafinha gasped. “Wh-What?! Something must have fallen to make that noise!”

“It came from over there! To starboard!” Liselotte said.

“I just saw a huge waterspout come up from between the clouds!” Leone said.

Eris’s brow furrowed. “I’d guess something happened up in Highland.”

“Chaos in one of Highland’s centers of power? Maybe one of their deadly weapons went wild, maybe they’re under attack by a gigantic magicite beast, or maybe it’s a raid by the Steelblood Front or the Papal League...” Inglis surmised. “Whatever it is, it’s not normal.”

Eris paused. “Neither is your expression. Seriously, why are you like this...?” Eris let out a deep, deep sigh. Inglis’s young eyes were shining like gems.

Rafinha also sighed as she looked down from the Star Princess. “Chris, you look like a little girl seeing her birthday cake right now...”

“She may look like a child, but somehow she’s the same as ever,” Eris bemoaned.

“Nah, this is definitely how she acted when she was six. Believe me, I was there.” Rafinha waved a hand.

“Incorrigible, then...” Leone chuckled wryly.

Wilma ordered her surrounding knights and soldiers, “Set a heading for the sound’s source! We need to get to the bottom of this! Something may have happened on Illuminas!”

“Wilma, we’re going ahead to scout!” Inglis, still hoisting the Star Princess above her head, darted forward.

“Ah! What are you doing?!” Wilma asked.

“Helping out! We need to get Eris looked at too!” With a smile, Inglis leaped from the deck of the flying battleship, bringing Rafinha and the others along, of course.

“Eeek?!” The Star Princess hadn’t started its engine yet and as a result plunged rapidly. No wonder everyone aboard was screaming.

“Er, Rani. Could you take the controls?”

“Yeah, I know, I know, but tell me before you jump! You scared me for no reason!” Rafinha grasped the Star Princess’s controls and started its engine. The plunging Flygear regained its lift and came to a stop.

“Sorry, sorry. I couldn’t wait.” Inglis flipped herself up and onboard. With a complement of five, it was rather cramped.

“There are too many people here, it’s crowded!” Rafinha complained.

“Agreed...” Leone followed.

“I can make room!” Liselotte activated her Artifact’s Gift. Pale wings stretched from her back and she soared, a hand on the Flygear’s rails as she flew alongside. Leading ahead of Wilma’s battleship, they dove while turning to starboard, and soon a large island entered their vision.

“Is that—?!” Inglis began.

Remote though it may have been, the buildings and structures on the island were obviously unlike any of the surface. Rectangular, boxlike forms were predominant, and all were decorated in the manner of the carvings on Artifacts. If those were what controlled the flow of mana within Artifacts and allowed them to produce magical phenomena, then perhaps the buildings themselves were as Artifacts.

“That’s not just an island! It’s Highland!” Eris announced.

“So that’s Highland!” Rafinha marveled.

“Then that splash we heard must have been it landing in the water?!” Leone asked.

“I’m amazed it’s staying afloat!” Liselotte remarked.

“Yes, that’s probably due to their technological capabilities... But something strange is definitely going on...” Eris said.

She was right. The plan had been to rendezvous in the skies, but it seemed to have made an emergency water landing.

“Look over there, Eris!” Inglis’s finger pointed at a school of fish moving through the waters. Each was more than twice the size of a person, and there were dozens of them—moving as one mass toward the desert island that part of Highland had become. The movement was clearly unnatural, with some purpose behind it.

“They’re—! They’re headed for Highland?!” Rafinha exclaimed.

One of the fish jumped, breaking the surface of the water and showing itself. Its hide was hardened, studded with gemlike clumps. Its eyes were crazed, and the horn on its forehead was jagged like a saw.

“Magicite beasts! They’re attacking Highland!” Leone said.

“Ooh! Great timing!” It was a fairly large school, the kind that might provide a good challenge. Inglis didn’t know if it was what had forced Highland to land, but truly oceangoing magicite beasts were new and exciting to her anyway.

“Lady Eris! Something is coming from Highland as well!” Just as Leone said, they could see something flying from Highland.

“That’s...Mr. Dragon?!”

Rafinha’s “Mr. Dragon”—that is, the ancient dragon Fufailbane, who had been turned into a mechanical being and had been taken away by Archlord Evel—this was not. However, this was no living dragon either. Someone had changed this one into a machine also, with parts like those of a Flygear or Flygear Port all over its body.

“Ooh! Mechanical ancient dragons?!” Inglis had missed her chance for a fight with the mechanized version of Fufailbane. Getting that fight here and now would have been more than even she could have wished for. However, looking at the beast, it was notably smaller than Fufailbane—a few at one time like this would probably be quite satisfying though.

“No. Those are mechanical dragons! One of Highland’s defenses! They’re made from living dragons.”

“So, something like a younger mechanical ancient dragon?” Did that mean Highland was turning regular dragons into machines? That made sense, considering there existed a method to do the same to ancient dragons.

“I suppose. Though I’ve never seen a mechanical ancient dragon,” Eris said.

“Looks like the mechanical dragons are off to intercept the magicite beasts,” Rafinha said.

“Yeah, it does look that way,” Leone agreed.

“What a waste! Er, I mean, let’s help them out to limit their losses!” Inglis said.

“You just want to fight them yourself, Chris!” Rafinha protested.

“Of course! I haven’t had a real fight since Dux Jil!” That was why she had been training so intently, but nothing beat the real thing. She was sure he was giving it his all too. That’s why she needed to take every opportunity to improve herself, so he didn’t have a leg up on her in the rematch. Her goal was to defeat him, not with the power of a hieral menace, but with her own strength. She needed to set high standards for herself and unlock the power of hi-aether on her own.

“I’m not going to stop you, but don’t get too worked up and destroy the mechanical dragons too, okay? That could be a problem,” Eris said to Inglis.

“With their current course, we’ll be between the two sides as they come together!” Leone said.

“I hope we aren’t caught in the mechanical dragons’ attacks...” Liselotte worried.

“It’s okay, Leone, Liselotte. I’ll get to them before that!” Inglis replied.

“Oh! Booster mode, Chris?!” Rafinha asked.

The Star Princess had a booster mode that allowed it to reach far greater speeds than its normal pace, but it didn’t last very long. Rafinha was asking whether to activate it.

“Not yet, Rani. Once we use that, we’ll have to wait a while... Better to keep it at the ready!” It was better to save things that could turn around a fight for emergencies. Plus, Inglis wanted to test her own might. I’ll go on my own! She climbed up the prow of the Flygear and focused.

“Dragon Lore!”

Crossing her arms in front of her body, she rested an index finger on each shoulder.

She traced down across her chest, her waist, her legs, sheathing herself in dragon lore along the path of her fingers. At the same time, she converted aether to mana and covered herself with it. Applying the same magic with which she created blades, she formed the ice into armor.

The flow of mana she used to create this armor was based on her observations of the workings of Dragon Claw, King Carlias’s dirk Artifact. Dragon Claw was a level beyond other upper-class Artifacts, something which might be called “super-upper-class,” and was the twin of Rafael’s Dragon Fang.

The action of the magic overlapped completely with that of the dragon lore, transforming it. She called this fusion of mana and dragon lore “dragon magic.” And it created not simple magical ice, but an azure suit of armor resembling that created by Dragon Claw.

“Gwohhhh!”

The armor, imbued deeply with dragon lore, made the roar of a dragon as it sprang into existence.

“Blue dragon armor?!” Leone gasped.

“Inglis, what is that?!” Liselotte asked.

“It’s an application of dragon lore. I guess you’d call it dragon ice armor? I had Mr. Rochefort show me how the Dragon Claw His Majesty issued him worked until I figured out how to do it.”

Of course, not only was the armor sturdy on its own, the power flowing through it improved her own abilities as well. However, the flight function that the actual Dragon Claw had was too complex, and she hadn’t been able to reproduce it. Summed up, it was a slightly weaker Aether Shell. “Weaker” didn’t mean much in comparison to aether, though, and this way she could use it in conjunction with other aether abilities. And combining this with Aether Shell was sure to take her even further.

“Wasn’t Dragon Claw supposed to be a national treasure?” Leone asked, her tone one of shock.

King Carlias had only just entrusted Rochefort with it before Inglis and the others had left for Highland. He had returned from the palace with it just when Inglis was training after school with Arles.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Liselotte asked.

“Good or bad, what’s done is done. I’m impressed she only had to see that little of it.” Eris shrugged, and smiled at Inglis.

“Well, worrying about every single thing Chris does is just a ticket to heartburn. Go for it!”

“Yeah, Rani! Here I go!”

Inglis nimbly leaped forward from the prow of the Flygear. If she had really wanted to get some momentum, she would have done it with Aether Shell already active as well and put her full strength into it, but that would have sunk the Star Princess. So for now, a light hop was best. However, that meant she’d lose speed and the Star Princess would catch up with her.

Therefore...!

She spun around midair and brandished her palm at the horizon. “Aether Strike!”

Blammmmm!

The recoil from the blast of aetheric light sent her rocketing forward. Pulling away from the Star Princess, she dived toward the school of magicite beasts.

“Grahhhh!” A particularly lively one reacted swiftly, leaping from the water to treat her as a self-delivering meal.

“Thank you!” Just before its fang-studded jaw snapped shut, she spun to avoid it. “I was just thinking I needed somewhere to stand!” Perched aboard its snout, she leaped again, toward a point ahead of the school. The unfathomably deep ocean awaited her. She would sink—or, no, she wouldn’t.

Clink!

The sound announced the formation of an ice floe beneath her feet. The dragon ice armor was—of course—ice, and Fufailbane, the source of her dragon lore, was an ice dragon with unparalleled power to freeze. Put the two together, and that power extended to the armor as well. A little bit of focusing on her feet, and the chill emanating from her gear could form a foothold for her. She could run in a straight line on water without ice, but not if she was to stop suddenly or turn quickly. Forming these footholds, on the other hand, let her fight with the same swiftness as she did on dry land. This had limited uses, but it was good enough here.

“Excellent! This makes it easy to fight! Here I go!”

Ahead, two magicite beasts were sweeping in from either side to leap to the attack. Building a corridor of ice as she went, she rushed toward the one on the right. “Haaaah!” Jumping high, she closed in on the beast as it did the same to her.

She had moved in quickly—too fast for it to intercept her. Leaping toward a target was plenty aggressive, but that had a drawback: what if the target changed course when you could no longer do the same? A bird or the like could control its trajectory with its wings, but a fish would be left high and dry. She showed no mercy as she swung a roundhouse kick into its side.

Bammmmm!

The magicite beast was sent flying sideways, crashing into its counterpart. Their momentum canceling each other out, they got tangled together and began to fall. Inglis chased after them, running ahead to where they’d land.

“Rani! Leone!”

As she called out her friends’ names, she kicked the beasts high. Far higher than their jumps, high enough to end up in the path of the oncoming Star Princess. Then another sharp horn, another gaping maw, appeared beneath her feet. It wanted to swallow her whole, but her short hop handled that too. Evading the chomp by a hair’s breadth, she grabbed the beast by the horn and pulled it from the water.

“And this one’s yours, Liselotte!”

She sent her catch soaring with a punch. It writhed on its way up to join the previous two. Magicite beasts couldn’t be hurt by normal physical attacks. A punch could send one flying but wouldn’t actually wound it. Letting Rafinha and the others finish them off was the most effective tactic.

“Eeek! Something’s flying this way, and it smells fishy!” Rafinha yelled.

“If we let them fall, they’ll dive again!” Leone said. “We need to get them on the first try!”

“I’ll take the one a bit farther off!” Liselotte said.

“I’ll handle the Flygear! You concentrate on dealing with them!” Eris gripped the controls of the Star Princess while Rafinha and the others prepared to deal with the magicite beasts.

Shiny Flow’s arrows of light flew forth, phantasms emanated from an extended dark greatsword, and a blizzard spewed forth from her halberd’s decoration of a dragon’s jaw. The chaotic but overwhelming assault destroyed the magicite beasts.

“Good work! Here come more, then!” Inglis sent one after another upward toward Rafinha and the others.

“Hey, Chris! You’re going too fast! Deal with some yourself!” Rafinha’s complaint came only after seven or eight in a row.

“Mm. I guess...” Inglis agreed. She looked down. She’d built up quite the platform for herself with her footwork. “All right, I’ll deal with some down here!”

She released the dragon ice armor magic. Forming her hands into fists, she brought them together at her waist as if she was drawing a sword. In that stance, she used magic to create a blade of ice while overlapping it with her dragon lore with a drawing motion. By intentionally mixing dragon lore and magic, a change occurred.

“Gwohhhh!”

A blue sword sprang forth with a draconic roar. This was another version of dragon magic—dragon icebrand. She wasn’t yet able to use both it and the dragon ice armor at the same time, but for now, she had enough of a platform to maneuver without relying on the armor. She had created this weapon once before, during her battle with Dux Jildegrieva, and she wanted to try it out again.

The gems studding the magicite beast leaping for her were blue. That meant this monster would be resistant to her ice sword, but attacking it with that added challenge sounded interesting.

“Haaah!” Leaping up from her ice platform, Inglis swung the sword into the oncoming magicite beast. Its azure blade easily sliced into the beast, neatly bisecting it. As its remains sank, they disappeared.