WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Scum of the Brave

Chapter 37

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Two people got out of the white sedan.

I knew both faces.

From the driver's seat came the suit-wearing man with the weary face. Seki looked terrible, clearly sleep-deprived, and he had his hand on the sword belt at his waist. He had not drawn the one-handed sword.

"Hello."

His voice was horribly hoarse. It contained a large amount of reproach.

"That was quite awful earlier."

Then he smiled weakly.

"Could you please start behaving soon? Tomoe here is in a very bad mood."

"I'll consider it positively."

Apparently, he was complaining about having a tear gas grenade thrown at him, but I decided to go along with that topic.

To buy time.

"But I think you people were at fault to begin with."

Without letting my attention leave the "dogs" surrounding us and baring their nail fangs threateningly, I took one step back. Jogamine and Sara exchanged a brief glance and took positions to block the space in front of me.

I disliked it very much, but right now I had no choice but to rely on them.

"Are you students of that idiot called Levi? What are you thinking? Your education is lacking. Tailing someone's car and trying to throw spears at them. Are you monkeys? Study civilization, civilization."

While talking as much as possible, I observed the park. A cheap slide. Horizontal bars. A sandbox, seesaw, and benches. Nothing looked very useful.

I was starting to feel like anything could happen at this point.

Every single one of them kept doing things inconvenient to me.

"You in the passenger seat."

That was why what I said became fairly dangerous.

"The monkey-like brat should apologize at least once. Hey, I don't really understand why you're chasing us. The losers who ran away with their tails between their legs last time were you. Right?"

"Hey."

Sara turned back to me with a biting expression.

"What are you going to do by provoking them?"

"When I see weak monkeys getting cocky, I really want to mock them."

"Who are you calling a monkey?"

A small woman showed her face from the passenger seat. This was Tomoe. Her eyes were challenging and aggressive. Probably because of the tear gas, her eyes were bloodshot, making her look even more beastlike. No matter how you looked at it, she was one step away from raging.

"The one whose education is lacking is your student, isn't it?"

Tomoe rested her long spear on her shoulder and planted one foot on the hood.

"What kind of teaching are you doing? You might be amazing as a Brave, but our Teacher is much better."

Her attitude was hostile, but the question made no sense.

In other words, they were also trying to buy time. Their aim was clear. They had likely guessed that we did not have much E3 left. In other words, they were hoping the effects would run out.

"Who knows?"

I shrugged, showing that I would play along.

"It took a lot of work to educate these three, who were only talking monkeys, this far. Did you know? We captured them deep in the mountains of Hokkaido. Salt Joe heard rumors from a local hunter, and our capture unit..."

"Seki."

As expected, Tomoe noticed.

"He's plotting something. I wanted to wait for Dritt to come back if possible, but..."

"I'm troubled."

With smooth hands, Seki drew the one-handed sword from his waist. He looked troubled from the bottom of his heart.

"Tomoe, which one are you taking? If possible, I'd like the one who isn't blond."

"I'll finish her quickly. The blond is two-on-one. Hold out until then."

"I'm not enthusiastic about this."

"Wait a second."

I tried to buy as much time as possible.

Needless to say, the way I chose my words was bad. There should have been a better opening.

"I still haven't heard what you want with us."

"Who knows?"

Tomoe laughed. She was a girl whose face became savage when she laughed.

Of course. She had no reason to tell us.

"Jogamine, Sara."

I called their names and retreated one more step.

"They are not stronger than you. Probably. Focus less on using the techniques I taught you and more on observing carefully. You served as my practice partners, so they should look like small fry to you."

"Yes, Master."

"There you go, saying convenient stuff again."

Jogamine's carefree answer and Sara's grumbling murmur were the usual.

Then, without seeming to care about us, Seki and Tomoe exchanged a glance for only an instant and moved at the same time. The "dogs" lowered their bodies and leapt without a bark.

"This is a defense lesson. Don't get scared and try to settle it all at once. You two lack the guts for that."

More than half of my advice did not make it in time at all. The speed of people using E3 momentarily surpassed bullets a little.

Tomoe moved first, I think. She must have kicked off the car hood, denting it as she leapt. Too fast for me to accurately follow her movements.

A collision rang out, fairly intense.

"Huh."

Tomoe's body was knocked into the air. Twisting her body, she landed on the ground on all fours like a beast. But her momentum made her toes slide. The ground gouged, and dust rose.

"Unexpected. You looked stupid, but you can do a fair amount."

"Of course. I am Master's disciple."

Given that arrogant reply, Jogamine was probably the one who had stopped her. Probably. The ground at her feet was lightly gouged.

She had likely received the attack with the bastard sword by crashing her whole body into it. Against Jogamine, who could read minds, surprise attacks meant little. Their fighting styles had matched well. She had blocked Tomoe's first blow and repelled her.

She had succeeded in taking distance, but I wanted to tell her to stop. If she used the blade like that, it would go dull quickly.

"Five seconds, villain."

Jogamine bragged arrogantly.

"To show Master my growth, you will become a convenient jobber. Come at me."

"You're Jogamine, right?"

Tomoe smiled savagely, and a little again.

"The serious part of you is funny."

Once more, both accelerated. They collided.

The bastard sword knocked away the spearhead and snapped it upward. Impact sounds rang out in succession. It seemed they were exchanging blades while each strike opened great distance.

But to my eyes right now, they looked almost like afterimages skimming through gaps in the dust.

Meanwhile, I truly could not follow the exchange between Sara and Seki.

Their offense and defense were fast.

On top of that, it was close combat.

Against Seki, who tried to escape into the air by stepping on invisible "stairs," Sara did not easily allow it. By stepping forward with every slash, she forced Seki into a ground-level defensive fight.

Not bad. I could only see Sara's blade flash and Seki's sword receive it during the instant they slowed.

The rest was sparks from metal colliding. Sara had a slight advantage.

And I could not focus only on their battles.

I had to do something about the "dogs" coming after me, clearly targeting me as the weak one.

For now, I aimed at the face of the one charging straight from the front and fired the Beretta twice with both hands. Missed. It made me want to cry.

The third shot finally hit and destroyed its head. It stopped moving. For some reason, it was strangely fragile. What was this, drying paper clay? In the meantime, I allowed the next one to approach. It jumped at my shoulder and nearly bit me, but at this range I could not miss.

A shot with the muzzle practically touching. Its head scattered. The second one.

But the third was impossible.

"Whoa."

Sharp pain ran through my leg, and I fell on the spot.

A "dog" with an obviously half-assed design had bitten into my calf with its nail fangs. I seriously wanted to cry, but by cursing instead of screaming, I think I somehow maintained appearances.

"Ugly-looking bastard."

Gunshot. The third one's head burst apart too.

I saw the fourth, fifth, and sixth swarm toward me as I lay fallen.

It's fine, I decided to hypnotize myself.

True, being bitten by nail fangs hurt. It made me want to cry.

But it was not fatal. With these things' fangs, even if they tore flesh, they could not reach bone. Pray they did not get an artery or tendon.

The fourth bit at my right hand gripping the Beretta. At last, the situation had become one where I had to somehow manage in close combat. I was fully prepared for things to become miserable from here.

"Damn it."

That curse was all I could manage.

In that instant, the fourth one's head split and blew apart with a flash of silver.

I forgot to think.

Because I was assaulted by explosive anger.

"Master."

Jogamine's serious voice fell from above. When her right arm swung the sword, the bodies of the fifth and sixth broke too. They flew away and scattered. Jogamine glanced back at me for only an instant. Her face was sickeningly serious.

"Are you unharmed?"

I nearly fired at Jogamine.

Actually, I probably would have if Tomoe had not slammed the butt of her spear into Jogamine's unguarded solar plexus. Jogamine folded forward, her face twisting.

Then the spearhead Tomoe thrust in deeply tore through Jogamine's thigh. Next, she probably struck the side of Jogamine's head with the shaft.

It was too fast to see well.

Jogamine's body collapsed.

Tomoe grabbed the scruff of her neck with one hand and smiled with an almost innocent freshness.

"This one really is funny. Done, Teacher."

"Good. That was within the range of excellent."

Behind Tomoe came a hoarse woman's voice.

The sound of Ether Burn. A small woman wearing a gaudy Peking-opera-style mask. The broken former Brave and E3-addict woman, Levi. There was no way I, as I was now, could notice when she had arrived.

It was nothing dramatic. We had been stuck from the start.

If you wanted to finish off a powerful Ether Perception user like me, the best moment was before they used E3, or after forcing them into a shortage.

Attack when the opponent was at their weakest.

That was none other than a Brave's method.

"Now then, you made this a little troublesome, Yashiro the Reaper."

Levi's one hand rested vigilantly on the hilt of the curved sword at her waist. Even if I shot, she would only evade.

"You may choose. Walk on your own feet, or be escorted by me."

"Yeah, I get it. I'm quick to understand."

As I said that, I fired the Beretta at Levi's head.

Three times in succession. That was my limit.

"I surrender."

"Good."

Levi's figure vanished after dodging the bullets.

In the next instant, there was an impact, I think. She probably punched me in the face. I remember up to around there.

"Hey!"

I heard Sara's shrill voice. The sparks of her crossing blades with Seki.

She had not given up yet.

The resolve to endure on defense required more courage than trying to settle a battle all at once. Maybe Sara had begun to show a little guts.

"Teacher! What are you doing?"

"Leave that one, Seki."

Levi's voice sounded distant.

"The client's objective is now..."

I'm going to kill this woman, I thought.

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