The gentle steam spread over her smooth, soft fair skin.
“Phew…”
Tomoe gave a sigh of relief, now wrapped in steam with a pleasant scent drifting, tickling her nose. After finishing the preliminary, she had rented a private room at one of the many public baths at Sheldan to relax: it was a daily routine for her.
However, lately it hasn't been working out that well. Despite her victory that day at the preliminary, she wasn’t able to feel satisfied. Even Tomoe wouldn’t have been able to predict that just a defeat would cripple her this much.
She closed her eyes, and remembered the day’s battle. She had repeated her attacks single-mindedly, an unsightly way of fighting with no trace of strategy, typical of savages… At this rate, even if the eastern savages ridiculed her, no excuses would cut it.
“It seems I need to rearrange my fighting style.”
[What am I fighting for?]
Lord Masakado wouldn’t show her the way that easily. She'd have to find the answer by herself.
“L-Lady customer, you’ll get us into trouble!”
The voice of the baths’ clerk cut off the priestess’ concentration.
“I don’t care. Irma, open it.”
After hearing the voice of a dignified girl, the door to the private room Tomoe was bathing in opened.
[Who!?]
Earlier than Tomoe could stand, a blond girl jumped in, scattering the steam.
“Huh?”
She could hardly believe her eyes. The girl who had entered her private room didn’t even wear a gown for bathing.
“You’re Tomoe!”
Without a stitch of clothing, not bothering to cover her full body, the girl who had suddenly appeared looked at Tomoe from head to toe as if appraising her, then grinned.
“Milady, at least wear a gown.”
A blue-haired maid behind the girl hurried to get a gown for bathing.
“Why should I wear the same thing as commoners?”
“It’s a question of modesty.”
“I don’t feel self-conscious when mere cats and dogs see me.”
Settling the issue with the maid, the girl’s gaze turned to Tomoe.
“I’m Elina. I challenge you to a skirmish. Feel honored.”
As soon as she said so, the girl held out a crystal ball, which she put on Tomoe’s palm.
“I think you can tell, but I don’t have a ball with me. And… sorry, but I’m not in the mood.”
“Then, it’s my win. Elina completely defeats the Warrior Priestess from Hinomoto!”
Elina made a victory pose, and ordered the maid by her side to document it.
“Irma, let this make its way to the official records. The Warrior Priestess, who had only been defeated by Echidna so far, “admitted defeat without a fight” before Elina here.”
“Yes, Milady.”
“P-Please wait a minute. We never even began to fight.”
Tomoe went wide-eyed at Elina’s reaction. She couldn’t have ever imagined she would be declaring her defeat suddenly.
“Well, you don’t want to fight me. It’s pretty easy to see why, isn’t it because you don’t think you can beat me?”
“That’s not the case.”
“Why aren’t you more honest? Just say “I’m no match for Lady Elina”. “
The noble put on a theatrical smile like a villain, and went: “ku-ku-kuh.”
If she was going to show up all of a sudden and push her that far, Tomoe wouldn’t take it lying down.
“I’ll accept your preliminary.”
She didn’t have a crystal ball, but if Elina was to be her next opponent, that would pose no problem.
“Then, let’s fight right away. Irma, my weapon!”
“Milady, as one would expect, that conflicts with Sheldan’s preliminary rule.”
The maid’s words cooled down Elina’s fighting spirit.
“What a drag.”
The city had only one rule concerning Queen’s Blade preliminaries: “don’t get the citizens involved.” Were one to break the rule, it’d be judged as an act to disturb the peace and order of the city and they’d be subject to punishment.
The most reliable way to enforce the rule was to fight somewhere without any possibility to get a third party involved. Being as they were in a public bath, the odds were really low that anyone else wouldn't get caught up in it.
“If we reserve the arena now, it’ll take at least 3 days.”
“Ah~, but I don’t want to fight in the arena.”
Ignoring the dumbfounded Tomoe, the other two went on talking on their own.
“There’s nothing I can do about the crystal ball relaying it, but I don’t want an unspecified number of people seeing my skills in the flesh.”
“Understood. Then, I'll prepare a place cleared out of people, somewhere other than the arena, right away."
“I’m glad you catch up fast, Irma.”
“I’m obliged.”
“Somewhere where we can prevent a third party from intruding, safe from prying eyes. I’ll leave the details for later.”
“Yes, I understand, Milady.”
“Once the venue is decided, please don’t forget to notify the Warrior Priestess.”
The two had already begun talking about where to fight, leaving Tomoe behind.
“E-Err…”
“Yeah, you’ll be fighting me. Expect nothing else.”
Elina unilaterally gave out her own conditions, as if she hadn’t intended to listen for the priestess in the first place.
“Then I, the maid Irma, will tell you about the details. Will that be fine?”
The maid with a blue head standing beside Elina respectfully lowered her head.
“Ah, yes.”
Tomoe bowed in kind.
“So, our business is over, let’s go.”
“Yes, Milady.”
Declaring so one-sidedly, Elina and Irma left. Tomoe was left in a confused daze, only able to see them off in utter amazement.
***
“I’ll tell you about my terms.”
On the road back to the inn after declaring war on Tomoe, Elina listed her conditions about the place where their preliminary would be taking place.
“First of all, a location away from commoners. You can’t fail with this one; I have to both enforce the preliminary rule and conceal my skills."
“Yes. But still, Milady.”
“Whaat?”
“It’s going to be relayed by the crystal ball, so I can’t reduce the number of people who will see your skills; complete confidentiality is difficult to achieve.”
“I’m fine with people seeing them through the crystal ball, since they won’t be able to figure it out. What I’m afraid of is whether a master gets in among the commoners, sees the skills and begins to take countermeasures.”
Unaware that one of such experts was in front of her eyes, Elina told her about the next condition.
“As for the time, the afternoon is fine. One feels like working off the meal after lunch.”
“So you don’t want it to be in the morning?”
“I’d rather sleep peacefully in the morning. At long last, neither my father nor the annoying nanny are around, so just let me be self-indulgent for a while more.”
“Certainly. Are there any more conditions?”
“There might be too many already. Can you begin searching tomorrow morning?”
“I’ll strive to.”
Though it hadn’t been a long time since Irma had been appointed as her personal attendant, Elina already trusted her. After all, she hadn’t objected to any of her unreasonable demands.
“You really are efficient and reliable.”
Her smile put Irma in a complex mood.
[She trusts me, but I’m just an assassin who is using her.]
When she thought of that smile turning one day into disgust and hatred, the feelings she should have repressed subtly stirred, and Irma could do nothing to soothe her aching chest.
***
Next day, early afternoon.
Elina and Irma were in one corner of the Sheldan’s harbor, with no people around. A table set had been installed on the wooden pier, and a big umbrella blocked out the sun, both giving it a bit of a vacation-like mood.
They had already finished the preparations for the fight: it went without saying that the iron claws were attached to her left arm, and her spear was propped behind her. Tomoe would be coming any time.
“It seems she’s here.”
Hearing Irma’s voice, Elina turned her sight to the pier’s entrance.
That day was quite warm, shimmers of hot air were swaying. Among them, the raven-haired Warrior Priestess, her feminine limbs covered with pure white upper garments and a scarlet hakama, slowly appeared.
“The Warrior Priestess Tomoe is here to meet your challenge.”
“I’ll give you credit for coming and not running away.”
Elina replied from the chair she was sitting on.
“It’s because it would be my loss if I didn’t. I don’t like pointless fights, but I refuse to be branded a loser without even fighting.”
“Pointless? You’ll be able to make sure of it when we fight. How much stronger than you I might be, that is."
Elina stood straight, her eyes fixed at Tomoe.
“The Captain of the Royal Guard Elina challenges the Warrior Priestess Tomoe to a skirmish.”
She held her crystal ball towards the priestess.
“The Warrior Priestess Tomoe accepts the challenge.”
Tomoe also held her own crystal ball.
The balls softly rose from their hands, then rested at one point in the air, as they displayed magic characters.
“Skirmish approved!”
The voice of the court magician responsible for the battle echoed around the pier, and the light emitted from the balls made the stone statue hugging the swords materialize: it was the umpire image that would act as the referee for the fight.
Slowly descending from the air, it apparently ended up in a wrong landing point, since it sank in the water’s surface, raising an intense splash that created a rainbow under the sun rays.
“Huh?”
“Oh my?”
Tomoe and Elina were surprised at such an incident. Irma had also seen the whole thing, and was at a loss for words; all three were stunned the same.
The crystal balls would record the outcome of the fight and would come back even if the umpire image wasn’t there, so there was no problem regarding its absence, but the image did serve to hype things up somewhat.
As the three kept watching, a magic circle shone, now on the water’s surface, and the image appeared by using it as footing.
“The preliminary will begin. I expect both of you to devote yourselves to the fight and give it your best effort.”
A lovely, calm voice sounded from the image as if nothing had happened, urging them to fight.
Tomoe unfolded the amulets she had put her spiritual power in, as Elina received the spear from Irma.
“The battlefield is limited to the pier. If one of you falls off this area, it will count as a loss.”
The image announced this special rule, then fell into silence. It would only open its mouth again when the battle’s winner was decided, or if there was a malicious intrusion.
Tomoe held her sword aiming at the eyes, and scowled at Elina with a piercing gaze.
“I won’t go easy on you.”
“*Giggle*…”
“What's so funny?”
“I’ve seen aaaaaall about how you fight. That kind of boorish actions like continuous attacks with full force, you should realize they’ll have no effect on me whatsoever.”
“Wha!”
Tomoe’s face got dyed red with anger in an instant.
“I’ll make sure I shut up that insolent mouth.”
As soon as she said so, Tomoe kicked the pier’s floor board and quickly shortened her distance with Elina.
“Irma, get down.”
A smile of complacency on her face, the Vance girl jumped backwards, her sight locked on Tomoe.
She covered such a distance, no one would object to it being described as: “she flew.”
“Amazing…”
Elina had leapt for a distance beyond what any common person could jump, only by the movement of her ankles, without any prior actions such as bending her knees. Irma found herself speechless before such an outstanding physical strength, an innate ability that defied explanation.
***
Despite herself, Tomoe stared in disbelief at that magnificent jump. She had heard that strong abilities took on beautiful shapes, and it was no exaggeration to say that this jump embodied the concept.
[Interesting.]
She felt different vibes from Elina than from the opponents she had fought so far.
[But, jumping was an error. Wielding such a long weapon, she won’t be able to protect herself during the jump.]
Tomoe thrust her sword at the landing point.
“Prepare yourself!”
Her first attack virtually succeeded. However, an unexpected shock made it to Tomoe’s hands.
“Right back at you!”
Contrary to her expectations, Elina rotated the spear and repelled Tomoe’s stab in midair.
[She repelled my attack without breaking a sweat.]
“In that case…”
She didn’t let the momentum of her rejected attack die off, in fact used it, and dealt a deadly revolving slash. The sword tip sliced the air, delivering a single blow that added her own strength to the power of Elina’s repelling attack.
***
Tomoe’s behavior was basically what she had expected beforehand: she'd continue attacking earnestly without thinking about her defense. If her sword was parried away, she’d deal a certain-kill blow by using the momentum. She was following the same pattern this time.
Even for that so-called deadly revolving slash, if one knew the timing it would be unleashed with, it was nothing to fear. She just calmly dodged the revolving slash by crouching, Tomoe’s very action making her end with her back to Elina.
“Anyone ever told you they can see through you, Miss Daredevil?”
Elina whispered in Tomoe’s ear from behind.
“It seems one doesn’t have to be Echidna to lead you by the nose.”
“!”
“Didn’t you notice? The blade of her dagger had been crushed.”
Elina laughed with a sneer.
“Which means, you had lost from the beginning. She went easy on you, even.”
Tomoe’s body stiffened, as if spellbound. Even if she wished to forget the outcome of her fight with Echidna, she just couldn’t.
“I thought modesty was your selling point, but I wonder if you didn’t awaken to a new self when Echidna’s snake did as it pleased with you? I know, how about changing your name from Warrior Priestess to Snake Priestess?”
Every one of Elina’s words pierced Tomoe’s heart like a blade. Her heart was shaking as she was made to remember the hideous feeling she had been trying to forget, the sensation of the snake crawling from her ankle to her private parts.
This was the secret technique of Elina that damaged the weaknesses in the heart more than the physical body, the “Cursing Words.”
***
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