Chapter 20: Crow’s Garbage Harem
“Graaaah!”
In that moment, every eye in the area was gazing up at her—a blonde female knight, standing atop a building, wielding a white blade. Even the evil ogres froze in place, dumbfounded in the face of her imposing presence.
“You’ve been quite reckless, haven’t you?”
Pulses of aethereal energy rained down from above as she descended, clad in light. Vice-Captain Iris of the White Blade, one of the most powerful magus knights in all the empire, was about to show us how mighty she really was.
Quietly, she readied her blade.
“Shine on, Excalibur, the Radiant Blossom!”
In an instant, Iris had become a blade of light, her figure vanishing as a radiant beam cut through the ogres. A moment later, she reappeared, and the creatures in the light’s path fell to pieces.
Wait, did she just cut through a bunch of them in seconds?!
She was astonishingly puissant. Though many ogres still remained, her presence all but assured our victory.
Damn, Iris, you’re strong as hell!
***
Three days had passed since the attack.
Or maybe I should say three days had passed me by.
See, when Iris joined the fray, I’d thought I was gonna pass out, but then I rampaged instead. Was made to, at any rate.
As she’d zoomed right through all those ogres, killing them one after the other, Muramasa had kicked up a fuss, all “HUH?! OGRE! SOUL! MINE!” and forced me to move.
And then I’d begun fighting again, albeit much more sluggishly than usual.
Fortunately, thanks to Iris’s overwhelming power and the hard work of the other knights, we managed to get through the fight with everyone alive. Otherwise, I’d have died to the ogres’ counterattack.
In the end, my spirits had been so high that I’d stood back-to-back with a very sparkly-eyed Iris, and we’d triumphantly announced in unison, “We’ll protect the peace of this nation!”
She supposedly loved knight tales, so it made sense she’d always wanted to be in that kinda fierce situation.
So, after the battle, I collapsed at last and passed the hell out for three days straight. When I finally woke up, I was in bed at the local infirmary.
“So you see, Crow, all of your muscles were torn. Even the doctor was in shock, you know? Also, your limbs were all about to fracture from stress. You pushed yourself too hard...”
“Heh. I don’t care how hard I have to push myself if it means protecting precious lives.” I do care, actually. I would prefer not to.
“Oh! ♡”
For some reason, Vita had snuck into my bed. And so there we were, two fellow injured warriors, chatting away.
Man, we were both doing pretty great, all things considered. Those potion things the knights (and rich people) had at their disposal really were amazing.
Sure, medical technology may have been garbage compared to a thousand years ago, but this fantasy medicine was definitely worth writing home about.
One swig would speed up your healing tremendously, and applying it to a wound made it heal ten times faster. Iris may have casually slathered some all over me, but apparently, a single vial fetched an insane price on the market. She sure didn’t cut corners...
“Vita, what happened to the two Wanpurgis members?”
“Oh, them? They ran off to the outer zone and haven’t been seen since,” Vita answered, her expression darkening. She clung to my chest, lamenting, “It’s all my fault. If only I was of more help...”
Huh. Maybe she thinks of me as an older brother.
So, Karen and Nya had gotten away. They were probably going to attack again somewhere else. That sucked.
“Crow!” a voice rang out. “I heard you’re awake!”
The door to my infirmary room burst open, and Iris barged in, all smiles and sparkles.
Until she saw Vita clinging to me, at which point she shrieked like she’d seen a snake.
“Vita von Kaambl! What do you think you’re doing, clinging to Crow?!”
“Ooooh! Vice-Captain! It’s been such a long time! But can you not see we’re two young lovebirds having some private time together? I must insist that you read the room!” Vita said, suddenly bursting with energy.
“What did you say?!” Iris snapped, fuming.
What the hell’s happening? This is a place of healing, you guys! Keep your voices down!
“Vita! Get away from Crow right this instant! Don’t act like a femme fatale when you’re barely out of your diapers! I’ll kick your ass!”
“Eeeek! Oh Crow, I’m sooo scared! Don’t you think it’s sad that the strongest knight ever, who’s only ever been stewing away, too chicken to work on her feminine charms, suddenly has her panties in a twist over a much younger rival? Ooh, maybe we should get off her lawn before she chucks her dentures at us!”
“D-Dentures?! I’m not that old yet! And I’ll show you what a real woman’s feminine charms look like! H-Hyah!” Iris exclaimed, instantly hopping onto my bed as well.
What the hell are they doing?!
“Hah! How’s this, Vita? Impressed yet?”
“Can you go back to being a coward, please?!”
“What’s that supposed to mean, you little brat?! I’d be much nicer to you if not for your foul mouth, you know!”
“Who says I want you to be nice to me?!”
Each clinging to one side of me, the two glared fiercely at one another. You’d think being sandwiched between them would be a nice-smelling, soft, happy place, but nope.
An onlooker might’ve thought I was a lady-killer, but the truth was, Vita was just grateful I’d saved her life, and Iris was just being competitive.
When a girl’s in love, even just touching her crush’s hand is nerve-racking, I hear. So the two of them clinging to me like this must mean they don’t even see me as a man.
See, I’m a reasonable guy. Lots of self-control. I wasn’t about to jump to any weird conclusions.
“Crow! Let’s go for a walk around the city once you recover! I’ll give you an allowance!”
“Back off, Vice-Captain! Crow’s coming with me! Right, Crow? I’ll give you an allowance!”
Oh. So not only do they not see me as a man, they see me as a little kid. Okay, then.
The two started fighting over who’d get to give me an allowance, weirdly enough. Both of them were pressing up against me, snarling and yelling at one another point-blank. I’d never realized Iris had such a childish side to her.