Queen's Blade: Sword of the Unicorn, chapter 1-a

For the poll about opinions on Unlimited OVA 1, "could have been better" won with 10v-28%, followed by "alright" with 8v-22%. After that, there was a tie between "great!" and "pretty good!" with 6v-17%, and last was "awful" with 5v-14%.
Hm, I wasn't much of a fan of the OVA either, even though the story was the closest we've seen to canon in an anime, it was a bit of a poor-man version, imho.

Next poll, we know you might not come here for the latest meme, buuut...

And after the introduction, let's start the story proper! ...Oh, what do we have here, a grown-up man with like a lot of dialogue, and who doesn't need Leina's help, in our Queen's Blade? Lol, the author sure had some progressive ideas for the time :3

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Confrontation! Skeleton Swordsman

Sheldan, downtown area. Leina found herself surrounded by tourists in a remote corner of the city with pubs and cheap inns as far as the eye could see.

“Sometimes, Father can just be the worst.”

The warrior wandered about town on her own, complaining to herself about her father, who had gone so far as to order every official within his circle of power to look out for anyone even remotely matching her description, in an effort to keep her from crossing the border.

The Earl Vance ruled the western part of the Continent. She was set to be his successor, but having left despite his wishes… it seemed the thought of her wandering around the land freely was something he simply couldn’t handle.

Agents at the border linking the other countries to the Vance Earldom checking any passing woman for her, members of Claudette’s elite Knights of the White Tiger stationed at every checkpoint…

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Elina, Leina’s youngest sister, had even mobilized the entirety of the Royal Guard she commanded into a large scale pursuit network. Had Leina not snuck by with that itinerant entertainer’s troupe when she did, she would have no doubt gotten arrested.

That would have been a sad end to her little journey in search of improving her combat skills.

“If you’re so serious about the Queen’s Blade, young lady, why don’t you leave the Earldom and fight on your own two feet?”

The blonde could never shake those words from her mind even if she tried. They’d been spoken to her by Echidna, the Veteran Mercenary, who had made Leina taste utter and complete defeat.

“If you get really strong, we might even get to fool around together the next time.”

The sword skills she’d polished wandering the lands for as long as she did were as good as child’s play when it came to the elf.

“I wasn’t even good enough to be a plaything to her…”

Remembering the humiliation, the warrior bit her upper lip.

As she continued walking through the streets, her eyes were drawn to a nearby crystal ball displayed in one of the pubs.

“Tomoe?”

Leina typically wasn’t one to give much mind to the battles of others, but this one looked intriguing enough. The spectacular Hinomoto Warrior Priestess’ battle-- displayed with a sharp contrast of pure white and scarlet colors that was always a sight to behold-- had its audience on the edge of their seats, cheering on as they watched.

“Tomoe… you’re fighting here too?”

The Sheldan arena happened to be one of the more famous places related to the Queen’s Blade and its preliminary battles. Participants had no shortage of ways to look for potential opponents and they could even watch a variety of battles reflected in the crystal balls there. She should have known that to a foreigner like Tomoe, that would make it a pretty convenient place to be.

The Vance heiress stepped into the pub, casting a sideways glance to the guests gathering around the aforementioned crystal ball. It was your typical shop, with the first floor being a pub and the second one leading upstairs into an inn.

Occupied with watching the battle, the guests didn’t pay much attention to anyone new coming in. The only person who did was the shop clerk:

“Welcome.”

An old man, presumably the owner, addressed her. He’d wasted no time shifting his gaze from the small crystal ball placed on the counter to his new potential customer and grinned.

“Do you have any vacancies?”

Leina asked over the counter, sitting down opposite of him.

“I do, and if you’re a fighter in the Queen’s Blade, you get a 20% discount.”

The man only needed a short glance at the blonde to guess that might be the case: from the armored boots peeking out from under her travel cloak, to the shield on her left arm, it was a fairly safe bet.

In this land, providing commodities to those participating in the tournament was but a simple matter of course. It never hurt to be nice to a potential future Queen after all.

“That would help a lot.”

After running away from home, Leina’s travel funds never were what one would consider ‘abundant.’ She’d managed to adjust, but going forward, she’d much rather be saving what she could.

“Only if you can show me proof, that is, if not, it’ll be the standard fee.”

And by that, he meant the item given to any participant of the Queen’s Blade by the court magicians managing the competition, a miniature crystal ball emblazoned with the competition’s emblem.

“Will this do?”

The blonde pulled the small sphere out from within her chest and showed it to the old man.

The image of a goddess crossing two swords by her chest flickered over it. Only those crystal balls given to candidates qualified to participate in the tournament were able to reflect the image of the sword goddess watching over the Queen’s Blade like that.

“That’s the real deal alright. The fee is 4 silver coins, meals included.”

His eyes moved from the warrior’s crystal ball to the one right next to him.

It seemed the battle between Tomoe and some other girl in a black outfit had entered its climax. On the display, a close-up of Tomoe’s clothes being torn up and the white skin underneath being exposed was shown.

“Tomoe…”

She’d heard rumors of her condition taking a turn for the worse ever since she’d supposedly faced Echidna, but she could never be too sure if…

“Keep it up, and you’ll be fine.”

The display showed Tomoe escaping her predicament and beginning her counterattack. Judging from the way the battle was going now, it seemed Leina had no reason to worry.

“An acquaintance of the Warrior Priestess, are you?”

The old man quickly asked, when he heard her mutter.

“I guess.”

“Ooh, does that mean you lost to her too?”

“I did not.”

“You didn’t? Hohoh, that’s splendid.”

With a subtle smile on his face, which could either mean that he was impressed or that he was making fun of her, the old man placed his hand over the crystal ball.

With a small vibration, magical characters were projected over it.

“What are you looking for?”

The old man’s fingertips touched one of the characters.

“Miss Warrior Priestess’ battle records…”

The battle records of all fighters participating in the Queen’s Blade were collected using these crystal balls. Using a certain operation, their owners could browse that data.

However…

“Whuh?”
Despite pressing the icon for it, the crystal ball’s display did not change.

“Ah~ you can’t do that, mister.”

“I can’t?”
“Unless it’s for the fighter herself, battle records can’t be browsed until the main event starts.”

“Is that so? And here I thought I’d broken it for sure.”
“They’re sturdier than they look.”
“A good thing too. These things are damn expensive, if I broke it, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

The cost of any crystal ball relaying Queen’s Blade fights was nowhere near cheap. Even those made for individual use like the man was handling went for at least 10 gold coins. Having a large one installed like the one in his store roughly cost the price of a house. Considering how he could even afford such expensive items, anyone could tell his shop must have been doing well.

“If I told you how to use it, would you give me a discount?”
“That won’t be necessary.”

Rejecting her proposal, he switched screens by operating the magical characters with well-practiced practiced hands.

*Pop pop pop*, shapes appeared and disappeared.

“We may not be able to see battle records at the moment, but entry records should still work just fine.”

The projected images, popping up one after the other, suddenly stopped at one specific participant.

“You needn’t introduce yourself.”

Her very image appeared on his crystal ball’s display.

“Exiled Warrior Leina, welcome to Logan’s inn.”

She nodded quietly.

“Do you plan on joining in on the skirmishes?”

“I don’t. I think I’d rather save my strength for winning in the main fights.”

Skirmishes were a useful way of measuring one’s abilities against foes before the tournament proper. However, they were also a bit of a double-edged sword as they let others figure out the scope of your own power too.

Those watching Tomoe’s fight right now were no doubt thinking up ways to counter her. It was entirely likely that after dominating the skirmishes the way she was, the priestess could be in for a hard time the moment the main battles started.

That was far from the only reason Leina avoided fighting in the skirmishes, however.

Much like the main battles, skirmishes were broadcast throughout the entire Continent via the crystal balls. For a runaway, on the run from her family like her, that was less than ideal.

“Winning in the main fights? You sure can talk the talk.”

*Kakaka*, Logan cackled.

“You looking to be our new Queen?”

“I’m not interested in anything like that.”
“Ooh?”
“I want to fight strong opponents. Who would you say is the strongest in the world right now?”
“Well, the Queen obviously, right?”

“And in order to face the Queen, you need to win the Queen’s Blade.”

“That’s true, yes…”

The Queen’s Blade winner was entitled to the Queen’s throne. With the current Queen having her position challenged, she could either choose to relinquish that power or stand before the challenger in one last battle to decide who would become Queen between the two.

“Still, you might want to give it up this time.”

“Why?”

There should be no reason for him to say that.

“You got some tough competition.”

“Eh?”
“Take a look at some of the fan favorites among the entries.”

Manipulating the magical sigils with his fingertips again, Logan showed her the figure of one of the top bets for the tournament.

“The Hinomoto Warrior Priestess in particular should be well acquainted with her.”

“I’d say just about everyone is.”

An elf with brown skin and a suggestive costume with nothing to cover her nether regions but a snake.

“I know of only one woman who’d dress that disgracefully.”

The opponent who taught Leina about soul-crushing defeats. The legendary mercenary, the 300 year undefeated warrior, the whimsical fighting goddess...

She went by many names, but they all had one thing in common: that she was an impossible to beat legend. No one had EVER seen her lose.

“For the first time in forever, the undefeated myth herself, Echidna, is entering the tournament. If she can manage to stay motivated this time around, she’s definitely making it to the finals.”

“*If* she can stay motivated, that is…”

For someone like Echidna, everything was just too easy. If she found no one she deemed worth fighting against, quitting halfway through the tournament wasn’t really unheard of for her.

“Hinomoto’s Warrior Priestess couldn’t touch her either.”

“So Tomoe and Echidna *did* fight?”
“Yeah, and Echidna had her way with her too. She put on quite the lovely show for all of us.”

Logan’s face flashed a perverse look, but Leina only bit her lip in chagrin. Unlike her, whom Echidna hadn’t even thought worthy of any attention whatsoever, Tomoe had sparked the snake’s interest enough to get toyed with.

The image changed from Echidna to a much larger woman.

“Next is Risty, Bandit of the Wilderness.”
“Ah…”
For her, this was a face she was far more familiar with. Fighting Risty had been the trigger that made her decide to leave home. She still remembered that day well.

Although…

“She’s a top tier candidate?”

Leina asked, a dubious look on her face.

“Yeah. That she is.”

She felt bad for Risty for thinking it, but she didn’t consider her anywhere near Echidna’s level. When it came to overall strength, she always thought they were around the same level actually. What made Logan think of her as a favorite? She had to know.

“I understand the basis behind Echidna, but what makes you think Risty is a favorite?”
Certainly, her blows were strong. Even protected by armor as she was, it got to a point where receiving even one of them was near enough to make Leina faint. But then, the Queen’s Blade wasn’t so kind as to let someone win only by virtue of their physical strength...

“Basis shmasis! I’m talking tastes here! Just look at her! Those thighs, those firm breasts, the beauty of those abs! Strength makes beauty.”

“*Sigh*...”
Hearing that nearly made Leina collapse over the counter.

[Strength makes beauty.]

She could at least agree with him on that point.

‘Gentle, strong, beautiful’. She knew the words well, it was a phrase her mother often used to say.

“There’s some other favorites, though the one I’m really pining after is Princess Menace.”
“Princess Menace?”
“The one who calls herself the legitimate successor of the Amara dynasty, thick in all the right places, jiggly like you wouldn’t believe and a real ba-donka-donk on her too!”

Logan looked happy. As Leina’d begun to suspect, he was just your typical pervy old man.

No wonder Risty’s name had come up, if those were his criteria.

“By that way, you’re pretty *thick* yourself.”

“‘Thick’...”

[At least go with “Va-va-voom” or something, won’t you?]

Wait, if he was only calling her ‘thick,’ was he trying to say something about her waist?

“By the way, old man.”
“What is it, Hot Stuff?”

“‘Hot Stuff’...? Don’t call me weird things of your own accord!”

The moment Leina raised her voice in protest, a girl came running into the store.

“Welcome.”
And without a moment’s delay, the owner’s eyes turned over to her. Drawn by curiosity, the blonde’s gaze turned to the rushing girl as well.

She had silvery hair and wore a white dress, stained with soot here and there. The child looked around the shop restlessly, seemingly looking for someone.

“Looks like she’s got her own troubles.”

“Is she looking to meet someone here?”
Logan and Leina looked to each other, giving their first impressions about the girl.

From the tailoring of her dress, which covered her from neck to toe, there was no doubt she was of proper status.

***

--

This is quite rare for QB, but the "Va-va-voom" is actually a Dragon Quest 8 reference, what do you know! Apparently from 2004, "bon, kyu, bo-n" in the original (big boobs, small waist, big butt), which you can see in the translated form here, and the clearly better original version here~