NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 321: part 2
A cheap drama has begun. I wonder how much Ere a cheap drama is worth?
Aah, it’s a bother, but I immediately managed to bait someone.
「Honorable noblemen of the Kingdom, on behalf of the Great Marquis House, I accuse this person. This black-haired clown is using forbidden magic to enslave women. As honorable nobles, we must take those women under our protection. If there are objections, I’m willing to resolve them through a duel with this so-called black-haired strategist. Even a coward, who knows only how to run away, still should be able to wield a sword.」
Ooh, so that’s the approach they are going to take? I was pretty sure they would attempt something like a robbery or a surprise attack, but they came with a duel instead, how archaic, wait, it is medieval here, so perhaps it’s normal? Well, there are indeed a few girls Tamed with a forbidden? A prohibited? Skill-san, but to call them slaves is a bit much? Like, I don’t think there are that many enslaved girls chasing their master around while swinging morning stars?
「Or rather, who? No need to answer, I don’t plan on remembering you anyway? Well, if you are going to bet on that duel, I’m totally on it, but what are you going to wager? Also, you need approval of at the very least 5 other nobles to make a forced duel happen, so what are you doing getting all excited all by yourself? First get an approval, then decide on the terms of the duel, and only then start kicking a fuss.」
Well, if I can cull them here, then I might as well cull as many of them as I can. It’s not like they are going to honestly obey the Royal Family, or stop doing nasty stuff in secret. Even if they get destroyed by the Royal Family once they actually do something, by the time that happens, there will be victims of that something already, and there is no telling how much damage will be done until their wrongdoings come to the light. So them taking a bait is actually convenient for me.
「My fellow honorable noblemen, I ask those of the virtuous heart, willing to save and shelter those ladies from this man, to give your approval for this duel. Naturally, it’s fine for those that provide their approval to join in on the wager as well. The time for our noble judgment has come.」
「Ooh, I approve.」
「Me too, 3,000,000 Ere from me.」
「Fine, our House will join with 5,000,000 Ere.」
「No, I…」
「You have approval of our count house too, 4,000,000 Ere.」
「I’m on as well…」
…(Followed by many more)
They are laughing. Looks like since they can wager, they want to raise the stakes so much that the duel will become impossible. As expected, they aren’t walking around with more than a few million Ere on hand, but if you pile up enough garbage it can become a mountain too, as the total sum has gone over 80,000,000 Ere already and keeps going up. The loophole in the noble duels is the wager system. If I don’t have enough money to match their wager then it’s my loss by default, so my money would automatically be confiscated, and they will be free to openly take the girls away, hence, even the nobles that were still on the fence are jumping on the bet.
「Then our House Kasgir will wager 10,000,000 Ere, for a total of 100,000,000 Ere. Now, accept the duel.」
For starters, I signaled with my eyes to Dancing Girl-san and had Meripapa and the big shot from the Second Division restrained. The Royal Family cannot interfere with the decisions of the nobles, but since it seemed like he might act out anyway, I had the Playking tied up too. Convinced that no one could help me, the nobles rushed to join the bet all together.
「If you cannot produce 100,000,000 Ere then the bet is invalid. Your wealth shall be confiscated and we will also be taking the ladies into our custody. Guards, capture this man!」
「Sure. 100,000,000 Ere? Or rather, a royal coin? Are you fine with just one? Wanna bet more?」
「「「「「…………Huh?」」」」」
No, I mean, I couldn’t find a single store where I could use a 100,000,000 coin! Yeah, I thought I’d enjoy some rich man life, but turns out it’s a hated coin that not a single store or a stall would accept, so it’s just lying around?
「It, it is indeed a royal coin!」
「「「Kuh……」」」
No, you are the one who asked me to pull it out? Don’t tell me that even these guys hate that coin? Just what were they thinking issuing such a detested coin… Ah, is it this world’s version of 2,000 yet banknote? Yeah, makes sense it would be hated. I hate it too.
And while I’m looking away wearily, he is observing my breathing… And then suddenly stabs at me, a sudden attack with a rapier. The sword is also smeared with poison, so he seems very keen on killing me. Continuing his surprise attack with a series of consecutive attacks he is closing the distance.
「Cowardice… (*mmph-mpnh*)」
Just as Meripapa-san snapped and was about to jump in, he got tied up by Dancing Girl and has a handkerchief stuffed into his mouth, is it actually tasty?
Well, it’s indeed unusual to see a duel where one side launches a surprise attack on an unarmed opponent. But it’s merely a rapier with deadly poison. Compared to a heavy downpour of morning star blows and a typhoon of deadly swings that I have to live with on a daily basis, this much is cute. From his irregular technique and the focus on attacking the legs and waist area, the parts that are difficult to move or moving which will break your posture, this has to be a dueling fencing style meant for fighting people.
But this is nothing. I’m different from the people of this world who can’t handle more than a waltz, you know? Targeting legs? That’s great, but lukewarm common sense of this world can’t be applied here. In the world where we lived the extreme limits of footwork were constantly pursued. Yeah, don’t look down on DANCE REVO?
Things that were impossible in the original world, become possible in this one with skills and stats. That’s right, attempting to stab my legs, that can now do 『PARANOiA ～HADES～ CHALLENGE DOUBLE』without handrails, is way too naive. Go back and retry all the way from whack-a-mole.
Trying to stab me, who has become the True God of Footwork through graceful yet high-speed leg movement capable of passing a waterfall-like barrage coming at super speed of 300 BPM, and hitting 12 steps per seconds in SLOWDOWN is such a laughably absurd notion that laughing myself to death is a far greater risk at the moment.
A fencing technique of this level can be easily dealt with even through casual ground stomping, hm? Is this why Merimeri-san was practicing her stomping so much? Was this the noble society’s version of DDR? Well, anyway, this ain’t going to him me.
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The Grand Marquis House has made their move, huh. Instigating other nobles, they brought things to a duel, and betting large sums of money raised the wager to, what they thought, was a sum impossible for him to accept, laughing, convinced of their victory, until the boy casually pulled out a royal coin of 100,000,000 Ere, petrifying them. Inexplicable, just what made them think that they will be able to beat in wealth someone whose fortune exceeds that of the entire Kingdom?
Even though it is plainly obvious what kind of enormous wealth a matchless Dungeon Slayers, who obtained artifacts of the Great Dungeon on top of various treasures from dungeon masters that he was killing one after another, would possess. That boy’s assets have long since surpassed the riches of the entire Kingdom, so it’s quite puzzling how they arrived to the idea that they might have enough just because some rich nobles contributed some of their gold
Then, he suddenly attacked. Throwing even semblance of duel etiquette he simply lunged at the unarmed boy, some duel that is. I was about to jump in and kill that guy with my bare hands, but got restrained by one of the maidens from among the boy’s comrades.
Well, this must mean that there is no need for interference. As the guy is desperately swinging and thrusting his sword, the boy is handling it with something that on one hand has too much rhythm and regularity to be called a footwork, and yet is too heterogeneous to be called a dance. There is no touching that. There is no way a sword can catch something moving in such unpredictable and incomprehensible way.
A unique fencing technique which has the user launching thrusting attacks from a bizarre and peculiar low stance. It must be specialized for dueling. In a match of two armorless swordsmen, having the opponent obstinately attack one’s lower half from such a low stance, would leave one in no position for offense, as stepping forward would mean being slashed, which would result in being one-sidedly carved up. Such a style would be quite useless in real combat, but is enormously effective in a duel.
But it can’t even scratch him. That is a style meant to corner and mince the opponent, but while the boy is moving his feet a lot, furiously stamping on the floor, he hasn’t actually retreated even a single step from where he was initially standing. Even though the opponent’s fencing style is focused entirely around pushing the other party back and preventing them from attacking, he is reduced to a laughingstock, clumsily thrusting his sword, with his head wide open for an attack.
Completely exhausted by now, there is not even a shadow of that swiftness in his attacks that he displayed at the beginning. Crying, sobbing, and even dripping snot, he continues swinging his sword, but it can’t graze even afterimages of those feet anymore. This fight is long since settled, but the boy continues performing complicated and mysterious dance steps, seemingly enjoying himself.
But that guy can’t back down, if he cannot finish off the boy here, he will be treated as a rebel, who pulled out a sword in the Royal Palace, while also breaching duel etiquette. If he doesn’t want to be executed, he has to kill the boy here, and get the nobles on his side.
However, the strange dance of countless stomps on the floor is growing faster, as the boy continues knocking the rhythm as if he is bouncing off the floor with each stomp. The rhythm hits one into the very body like a frenzied pounding of a drum. It’s not something one can hope to imitate even with power obtained from leveling up. Then, the wild dance’s drumming of frenzied feet stomps suddenly stopped, to which everyone inadvertently almost started clapping, admiring the performance.
He is down. The boy, of course, still keeps going at it, full of energy. It actually looks pretty fun. But why is he starting another dance even though the duel just ended?
Now, the enormous wager is going to be seized by the boy, and the numerous nobles that approved the duel will be implicated as accomplices. They went for a reckless bet, blinded by their lust for the maidens, so they have no one to blame for their downfall. These are descendants of the people that once rose up to protect the people and support the King, the descendants of the ones who built up this country. But this is only a natural finale for those that forgot their purpose and had rotten to their core.
Everything came to an end as the boy simply answered the invitation and danced. With this, the nobles that attacked the honored guests and those that supported them lost their last way out through legality too. Since he was unable to kill him in a duel their rank is as good as gone. Not to mention, since he didn’t follow the proper formalities of the duel, he will be given a verdict without a chance to defend himself.
By simply dancing, the boy stomped the corrupt nobles into dust.
The boy, who obtained two royal coins of which only a few dozen is said to exist in the entire Kingdom, is gazing at them with a very annoyed expression. With this he is also going to receive a vast fortune from the confiscated assets of the nobles. Certainly, it only makes sense that he has no need for rewards, since even treasures of the Royal Family can’t rival the boy’s earnings. He earned a royal coin with just the ball and the play. An actor with 100,000,000 Ere performance fee is too much for the Kingdom.
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Arrested nobles are being marched off. With their use of Mind attacks during the duel exposed and added to confessions of caught servants, revealing their use of poisons and debuffs since a while ago there is more than enough to charge them with, making them unable to escape legally, or physically, as they are being captured one after another when attempting to do so. They are shouting, trying to put the blame on the boy, but he merely came here to dance. He haven’t even pulled out a blade, so what blame can be put on him. He has no blame, but he seems to have complaints?
「Profiting like a rich man, I somehow got another 2,000 yet banknote for ripping them off, an unusable currency is just a currency, or rather, since it can’t be used, it basically abandoned it’s duty as a currency, so it’s just as pointless as a certain Blindfolding Pres-san, and now I have twice that, so make it double! Look, look, if I rub them together, there are now three of them~, and there is nothing fun about it!」
And this is the end of illustrious noble families. As they ruined their long legacy, their house names are going to vanish into obscurity too.
On top of being plundered for 100,000,000 Ere, the nobles also had their assets confiscated, since they dared to demand the maidens, so the only thing awaiting them now is fading into nothing, as their ranks are as good as forfeit too. Mere invitation to the ball and a dance from him played all of the nobles to their ruin.
With this, the nobility has lost their power, and the country is going to transform under the leadership of the Royal Family, while confiscated assets will replenish the emptied national treasury.
「Mellotosam, am I dreaming? All of the Royal Family’s woes were resolved by a dance. What is going on here?」
I ask my friend, who is lying tied up next to me. It doesn’t seem like there is anyone else who would provide me with the answer.
「That’s why I notified you from the Frontier -『No idea what happened, but it got resolved』, it can’t be comprehended, so that leaves you with no idea of what happened.」
That letter of his was truly incomprehensible, but looks like it actually was an accurate account of events. Since it cannot be comprehended, there is nothing wrong about the notification also becoming cryptic.
Terrysel, who is also bound up next to us, is laughing with delight. That straight-laced stone-faced Terrysel is laughing out loud, as if he is watching the funniest spectacle.
「They were fooled like idiots by that theater play, created for the sake of this ball.
It’s impossible for the likes of me to even guess how close to the scenario it went, but turns out, the finale of that long long performance, that continues from that play, which is so popular in the Capital right now, was a comedy.
The nobles must’ve assumed that the black-haired clown would be easy to handle after seeing that, and thus decided to target him.
Without even knowing that all of it, be it that play, or this stage, were both scenarios written by that very clown. They arrived at the dance party, without even realizing that they were going to dance in the palm of that clown’s hand…
All of that was just a comedy about foolish clowns challenging a jester, capable of slaying dungeon masters, and destroying themselves.
The Capital was fooled and made to laugh through the scenario written by that very foolish clown that they were laughing at on the stage.」
The one who everyone was pointing their fingers at and laughing turned out to be a trickster. Not a fool to be laughed at, but a jester (trickster) who makes others laugh. Although everyone was dancing in his palm, I am also quite a clown to invite that jester to the ball. After all, I am also one of those who was captivated and fooled by that performance. Even though I was supposed to be among the audience for that play, I too ended up being played.
Wicked schemes of crafty and treacherous nobles, who lived all their lives in the noble’s paradise of intrigues and conspiracies, weren’t enough to get the dark-eyed strategist. There was no way for them to win, since they were already caught up in his scheme before they couldn’t make one of their own.
And by the time they noticed the trick of the jester (swindler), it was all over. Now, I wonder if there will be a curtain call?