The fanatic’s main weapon is a sword. A greatsword, to be precise.
Sure, it doesn’t match his build, but in this inflation-ridden world, how much does weight class even matter?
Even though he doesn’t seem to be holding anything right now, it’s certain that his subspace pouch is stuffed with all kinds of greatswords.
After all, he’s a man who’s obsessed with swords—not as much as he’s obsessed with the Saintess, but still pretty obsessed.
Maybe that’s why. Whenever he sees someone holding a sword, no matter who it is, he gets all aggressive.
And… those aggressive charging sword techniques? Yeah, most of them are parryable.
No matter how confident he is in his skills, if you parry him once or twice, he’ll probably feel something’s off and stop.
With that in mind, I confidently drew my sword, but…
“…No. Let’s stop here.”
For some reason, he started backing off, saying stuff like that.
What’s going on? I didn’t even do anything, why’s he suddenly acting all docile?
I thought he’d at least exchange a few blows, but the situation ended so anticlimactically.
Well, since he’s stopping, I put my sword away, and he looked… relieved?
“I’ll accept your consideration. Please take good care of the Saintess.”
What’s with him?
Well, good things are good, I guess. Even if it feels weird, I got the result I wanted, so let’s just call it a win.
“My skills are humble, but I swear I’ll do my best.”
“Enough with the humility. By the way, I’m jealous. You get to guard the seat right next to the Saintess.”
“It’s just a title like ‘friend.’”
Right next to her? Feels like I’ll be responsible for Lilith for the rest of my life.
“If I were called the Saintess’s friend, I’d probably be so happy I’d commit seppuku.”
“Please refrain from that…”
“Of course, I’m joking. Unless the Saintess orders me to die, I won’t be committing seppuku.”
As he said that, he pulled something out from his pocket.
It was a badge with a weird-looking emblem on it.
“It’s a token I only give to comrades I acknowledge.”
Why’s he suddenly acknowledging me? Was being Lilith’s friend that impressive?
Wait, is this a fanatic friend badge? If so, I don’t need it.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“It’ll come in handy. Just take it.”
But he seemed really determined to give it to me.
I’ve seen this in games before…
It’s an item with no enemies, but since they say it might come in handy, I guess I’ll hold onto it for now.
He put the badge in his pocket, made a satisfied face, and flipped his hood back over his head.
“I look forward to meeting you again when the opportunity arises.”
And with those words, he left.
No need to watch him walk away, right?
I turned back to where I was originally standing, and Seria and Lilith were looking at me with some kind of ambiguous expression.
Not sure what that look meant, so I decided to show off my confidence after finishing the job.
“Did you see that?”
“Yeah, I saw it. Rudion threatening a small, fragile citizen with a knife and chasing them away.”
“You’re really scary, huh? I never told you to go that far. If it becomes a problem, it’s all your responsibility, right?”
What the heck.
But thinking about it, they were right. From a distance, it must have looked like I suddenly pulled out a knife while they were arguing.
Especially since the other person was small, it must have looked even weirder.
I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to explain this when Seria suddenly burst out laughing.
“Just kidding. I heard everything, so don’t worry.”
“That’s a relief… Wait. You heard everything?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Just in case, I glanced at Lilith, and she shook her head.
I knew Seria had sharp ears, but this much?
“What did you say again… ‘I’ll definitely protect the Saintess no matter what happens,’ right?”
“What? Did you really say that?”
“No, I mean… I did, but…”
“Wow… You’re really gross. Doing that with your girlfriend right next to you, that’s cheating.”
Lilith said that while subtly glancing at Seria.
Even in this situation, she says stuff like that. She really loves teasing Seria.
And this attack seemed pretty effective, as Seria narrowed her eyes and glared at her.
“…Lilith.”
“Yeah. Not yet, right? Princess Seria, the potential girlfriend.”
“That much seems fine.”
“This much is fine…?”
“…Hey. Let’s just go eat. I’m hungry.”
The conversation was getting way off track, so I quickly steered it back.
Since we weren’t having a particularly serious conversation, it seemed they decided to go along with what I said without much resistance.
“But… if you didn’t threaten them with a knife to chase them away, what on earth happened? What kind of conversation did you even have for so long?”
“Hmm… well, something like that happened.”
“Yeah. Something like that happened.”
“Are you guys really being this petty?”
On the way back to the restaurant, I brushed off Lilith’s playful question.
No need to tell the Saintess herself that the stalker was a fanatic.
“Nothing much happened.”
“You pulled out a knife for nothing? Are you crazy?”
“Not wrong.”
“Crazy.”
Anyway, since the Saintess would soon be surrounded and tormented by believers at the Academy, I decided to remain the crazy guy who threatened citizens with a knife for now.
After much deliberation, we ended up going back to the same place we visited on the day we went to the Royal Palace.
As expected of a restaurant Alkiné had carefully selected and recommended, the quality of the food was excellent, so I had no complaints about visiting again.
Of course, that was from our perspective as customers. The restaurant’s perspective might be a bit different.
“You really came here…?”
“Shh. Pretend you didn’t see anything while eating.”
As soon as we entered, I could feel the atmosphere inside stir.
Even though everyone pretended not to notice, it was obvious they all knew who had arrived, as the pace of their meals noticeably slowed.
Shouldn’t everyone stand up and bow at the appearance of the Princess?
“Sorry, everyone. Please don’t mind us and continue your meal.”
Well… that might be the case, but since she didn’t want that, it’s right to let it slide like this.
Anyway, if even the customers felt this burdened, how must the staff here feel?
“…Did the number of people increase?”
“That person… seems to be the Saintess, right?”
I had told them not to feel burdened since she came as an Academy student, but it’s probably not easy for the people involved to accept that.
Last time we visited, there was a huge commotion with the “Operation: Serve the Princess a Delicious Meal” chaos. Now, with the Saintess added to the mix, how much worse could it get?
“I’ll trust you with this.”
“Manager. I quit as of today.”
“I’ll triple your pay.”
“It was already tripled last time.”
“…Five times. And if you successfully get through this time, I’ll take you as my disciple.”
“I’ll do my best.”
So, it wasn’t that strange when the sequel to the last incident, ‘The Empire’s Greatest Meal Operation That Summons a Storm,’ unfolded.
The scene inside the restaurant, which seemed calm on the outside but was a complete mess inside.
Lilith slowly turned her head as if scanning it… and looked at Seria.
“…Hey, Seria.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t go wandering outside. You’re a real nuisance.”
And she blatantly said that.
But perhaps because she couldn’t really argue with that, Seria just averted her gaze.
—
A bit away from the bustling area, on the outskirts.
It wasn’t that far, but suddenly it became hard to find any people.
There, a man appeared.
A fanatic who had just fled like a hammer. He was a Zealot Fanatic.
Cold sweat was dripping from his forehead.
He had a normal smiling expression, but it was just pretending to be calm—inside, he was extremely tense.
“…Huhu. I almost disappeared without a trace.”
What he recalled was the moment when Rudion drew his sword earlier.
Clearly, the sight of him pulling the sword from its sheath was slow enough to be visible to his own eyes… but for some reason, there was no sound at all.
The sound of gripping the sword handle, the sound of the sword being drawn from the sheath, the sound of lifting the drawn sword.
None of the sounds that should have been unavoidable to hear could be detected.
“Just what level of mastery does one need to reach to do something like that…?”
Fear naturally arises from the incomprehensible.
Since he was someone who took pride in swordsmanship, it might have hit him even harder.
Of course, it was a delusion, but there was no way for him to realize that it was just a foolish delusion, that it was merely an effect of a useless skill.
“Well. I should do what I can. Now that I know such a big shot is an ally, I need to prepare for that plan I’ve only dreamed of.”
So, he simply moves forward toward his goal.
He is confident that someday he will meet the Saintess again, and him by her side.
