A mid-level (middle-aged) office worker's laid-back industrial revolution in another world - Chapter 125

Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse

“Hmm, yes,” said Grandpa, “Smith – this has all been decided very suddenly, but what Takeo says is absolutely right. After all, any hesitation on the battlefield may be met with death.”

“Ugh, I understand,” said Smith.

“Master Smith, didn’t I tell you before? In life, things are not divided up neatly – they start all of a sudden from one thing to the next,” said Frederick.

“Yes… I will go through with it,” said Smith, nodding dejectedly at the ground.

“I made the proposal, and I will have the last word on it,” said Takeo gleefully, “It’s decided. Tomorrow will be Master Smith’s test day.”

“Well, then, I will notify all of the cavalries besides Harold at once,” said Frederick.

“Hmm, yes. That would be good. I am looking forward to tomorrow,” said Grandpa.

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“We’ve veered off from reviewing the battle, haven’t we? After taking a bullet, you seemed ready to get serious, Lady Alice… That’s what demon eyes look like, huh. I trembled seeing them,” said Takeo. 

“Do I really change that much?” Alice asked, tilting her head.

“Yes, if the shield didn’t work… there would be nothing left to do but lay down and beg for mercy against you,” said Takeo.

“Hmm, yes. That’s true,” said Grandpa.

“Indeed,” said Frederick.

“I would think so,” said Smith.

Everyone but Alice seemed to agree upon the matter.

“You all think so!?” asked Alice.

“That attack was frightening. It was a good experience, though,” said Takeo.

“The fact that you can say that while smiling says something about you, too, Takeo-sama,” said Smith, exasperated.

“And when Lady Alice came running in at me, I tried to stop her with a ‘Shield x10’,” said Takeo.

“It was destroyed,” said Grandpa.

“Huh? So, that feeling of breaking through something must have been the ‘Shield’,” said Alice.

“Yes. And then I put “Protes x15” on my rifle in a hurry, and I held my ground desperately,” said Takeo.

“I was so surprised that you weren’t pushed back that I had to take a step back for a moment,” said Alice.

“Hmm, Yes,” said Grandpa.

“Even after absorbing most of the blow with the ‘Shield’… this was the result,” said Takeo. He brought over the rifle that had been placed in the corner of the room.

“Oh? It’s got a dent in it,” said Alice, looking at the rifle and stating what she saw.

“…You say that so casually… And, what would happen if I hit her back with the rifle? That’s what I wondered, and at first, I used the threat of a barrage of “small fire”  to give me cover to run in, but when I ran at her, Lady Alice had already raised her sword,” said Takeo.

“Yes, that barrage caught me by surprise. I defended with both hands, and as soon as the barrage ended and I moved my hands, I saw Takeo-sama running at me, so I decided to counter-attack,” said Alice.

“Hmm, Yes. Takeo, how powerful was the barrage?” asked Grandpa.

“Well, it is my “fire” after all, so a single blast should have enough power to cause light burns,” said Takeo.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

“…Mm, tough to decide how to react,” said Grandpa.

“Yes, I agree. To all out defend against it might be a bit too much effort, but it’s not an attack so light that it can be completely ignored…” said Takeo.

Grandpa Elvis and Frederick furrowed their brows in thought.

“It really was simply an intimidation tactic,” said Takeo, smiling wryly.

“Then, as I slashed down from above, Takeo-sama defended with his rifle again,” said Alice.

“Yes. I blocked with ‘Shield x15’,” said Takeo.

“I was stopped completely,” said Alice.

“Hmm, yes,” said Grandpa.

Alice hung her head, and Grandpa Elvis nodded.

“Completely? Is that how it looked?” asked Takeo.

“Was it not?” asked Alice, raising her head.

“…To tell you the truth, the ‘Shield x15’ was able to withstand the blow, but I could hear a cracking noise coming from the shields,” said Takeo.

“What!?” shouted Grandpa Elvis, Alice, and Smith in surprise.

Frederick nodded and said, “Just as I suspected.”

“I see,” said Grandpa Elvis.

“If the ‘Shield’ was about to break, there was no sense in continuing to defend with the rifle, so I switched to my knife,” said Takeo. 

“I was thinking ‘He’s going to fight me in the same way he did the platoon leaders, like we talked about.’,” said Alice.

“And so, I ran up to Lady Alice, and defended against her slashing sword with my left hand, and attempted to counter with the knife in my right,” said Takeo.

“Hmm, Yes. But she dodged it,” said Grandpa.

“I thought, ‘Here it comes!’ and I managed to dodge it with my full effort,” said Alice, laughing to herself quietly.

“I thought to myself that this wasn’t working, and I thought about retreating, but… I figured I could at least repeat the same attack twice and watch her changes in timing…” said Takeo.

“She ended up dodging with ease,” said Grandpa.

“At that point, I wondered if he was waiting on a counter-attack from me,” said Alice.

“No, that’s not it. I wanted to see how to time my retreat, but… the second time more so than the first, and the third time more so than the second – you developed an ease in your response to my attack. Your third dodge was as if nothing had even threatened you at all. I was bewildered, thinking to myself that I was just an ordinary person, and you were a natural fighter,” said Takeo.

“I’m surprised those words are coming you,” said Alice, protesting with her shocked eyes.

“Am I not representative of an ordinary person?” asked Takeo.

“Absolutely not,” said Alice and Smith together, as close siblings do. Takeo smiled wryly.

“And since I was shown the ease with which she was dodging my attacks, I prepared for the next move I would throw out there,” said Takeo.

“I was thinking I would counter-attack,” said Alice.

“Hmm, yes,” said Grandpa.

“First, I ran up to Lady Alice, and as I was running, I switched the knife from my right hand to my left,” said Takeo.

“Since Takeo-sama came at me, I slashed down using only my right hand to hold the sword,” said Alice.

“I activated ‘Shield x5’, and took the hit from her sword,” said Takeo.

“When I felt him take the hit from my sword, I was thinking that I would pull my sword back quickly, but then I felt something give way beneath the sword edge,” said Alice.

“It hurt really badly, but I took the sword with my arm, and right in front of my face was Lady Alice’s right hand holding her sword, so I immediately grabbed it. I pulled back a bit towards myself, and I slammed into her right side under her arm, which had opened up,” said Takeo.

“Takeo-sama tried to wrap his right hand around me to my left hip, so I punched him, but I couldn’t stop him,” said Alice.

“…At that time, the place where I was punched made a cracking sound, you know?” asked Takeo.

Grandpa Elvis cringed at Takeo’s description. 

“Then, as I had succeeded in wrapping my arm around to her right hip, I lifted her up onto my lower back, and threw her down,” said Takeo.

“I was thrown,” said Alice.

“I threw her down and quickly pinned her, and it was finished,” said Takeo.

“What was that pin you used? I couldn’t escape from it at all,” said Alice.

“That was a move from something called Judo, which is from where I… It’s a martial art,” said Takeo.

“What!!!?” everyone cried out.

..

.

“Takeo, you have no training in martial arts, I thought?” asked Grandpa Elvis.

“You can’t really call training twice a week for three months ‘training’, can you?” asked Alice.

Then, Takeo answered Grandpa Elvis’s question.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]