29. Harem Musou

I heard from Helene that there was a bandit group in the forest near Reius that called themselves the “Hungry Wolf Fang.”

「Is that their hideout?」

Looking from outside the forest. There was cooking smoke rising from the forest, so at least there were people living there.

Behind me stood three women.

Helene, Tania, and Io.

Helene, dressed in a disguised outfit, answered.

「Probably. I’ve heard that since the Hungry Wolf Fang set up their hideout here, the residents of the city of Reius have become unable to get close to it.」

「I see. How big is it?」

「There are about two hundred people, which is nothing for you to worry about, Kakeru-sama, but the leader of the group is said to be very cunning and will stop at nothing, so please be careful.」

「Got it.」

「Hey, hey, are we going to take down a bandit gang now?」

Tania, the ghost maid—translucent and floating in the air—asked me.

「Yeah.」

「Are we going to do that too?」

「You don’t have to. If it’s only about two hundred people, Kakeru-san alone can do it quickly and easily.」

Said Io, the magician.

That’s certainly what would happen if I went in there myself.

I have Eleanor, and I have the Warp Feather. I can wipe out a bandit gang of around two hundred people all by myself.

I can do that, but—

「Today, I’m planning not to get my hands dirty as much as possible. I want the three of you to handle it.」

「The three of us……?」

「Ah, you mean that?」

「You’re going to loan us your powers, Kakeru-san?」

The experienced two immediately noticed my intentions. The smart but inexperienced Helene, however, had several “???” floating over her head.

「What do you mean by that?」

「Can Helene do anything? In terms of combat, I mean.」

「I always carry something like this with me for minimal self-defense.」

Saying that, she produced a short dagger. It was similar to the kind of knife used by yakuza, but Helene’s had ornaments attached to it, giving it value as a work of art as well.

She pulled it out and assumed a reverse grip.

「Can you fight with that?」

「No, it’s a martial art that allows me to exploit an opening, cut down a few people, and buy time to commit suicide. If I, a member of the royal family, were to be captured alive, various problems would arise.」

That makes sense, I understand. But—

「Suicide is forbidden from now on.」

I said clearly.

Helene looked a little surprised, then nodded quietly.

「If that is your command, Kakeru-sama.」

「Right, then let’s run a test.」

Regaining my composure, I tried loaning an ability to Helene. The question was what ability to lend her.

This was also meant as a test, so I kept it broad and simple.

『Loaning Dagger Arts to Helene Teresia Mercouri. 29 seconds left.』

Oh, it looks like it worked.

「Helene, try attacking me with that.」

「Understood.」

Helene didn’t hesitate, slashing at me with the dagger held in a reverse grip.

「Eh?」

She was surprised herself. A sharp slash flew at me.

I caught it lightly with Eleanor.

「That was much sharper than usual.」

「E-Ehh……」

Helene was uncharacteristically bewildered.

For Helene, who was usually calm and unshakeable when carrying out my words or orders, it was a rare, surprised expression.

Just being able to see that expression might have made it worth winning this in the limited-time lottery.

I had already done the same with Tania and Io, but I explained the mechanics again anyway.

「I loaned you a part of my power.」

「Kakeru-sama’s power. That explains it.」

Helene is very quick to understand. It might be a bit too smooth to be truly interesting, though.

「So, today is a test of that. We’re going to test just how far you can go with the power I loaned you.」

「I understand.」

Helene replied. The speed at which she accepted it after being convinced remained unchanged.

「Let’s get to work.」

I declared, and loaned my abilities to each of them.

『Loaning Dagger Arts to Helene Teresia Mercouri. Four minutes and fifty-nine seconds left.』

『Loaning Ice Magic to Tania Chitiakis. Four minutes and fifty-nine seconds left.』

『Loaning Lightning Magic to Io Akos. Four minutes and fifty-nine seconds left.』

Using the single-use types, I lent my power to the three of them.

We entered the forest, heading in the direction where the smoke was rising.

Immediately, a man appeared. He looked like a bandit in every sense of the word.

「What the hell are you bastards?」

「──」

Helene walked toward him in silence.

Her movements were no different from usual; she wasn’t particularly fast.

「Enemies? You’ve got to be kidding me.」

Because of that, the man had time to spew abuse.

Cursing, he drew the sword at his waist and slashed at Helene.

Counterattack. Helene’s dagger flashed sharply. The man was cut cleanly in half horizontally, along with his sword.

「Ooh!」

「You’re amazing, Princess.」

Tania and Io marveled, but Helene didn’t change her expression at all.

「Naturally, it is Kakeru-sama’s power.」

「Un, I guess so!」

「Yes!」

The three of them still praised me endlessly.

They pushed forward.

More enemies appeared one after the other, shouting abuse—or getting lecherous looks on their faces when they realized they were facing beautiful women.

Helene swung her dagger, while Tania and Io unleashed their respective specialty magic in rapid succession.

In the blink of an eye, the surroundings were filled with nothing but screams.

The three of them alone defeated the bandits one after another.

A 777-fold increase in ability.

The three of them right now were, so to speak, women possessing world-class specialization in a single art.

A world-class dagger user, a world-class ice magic user, and a world-class lightning magic user.

I don’t know what their original abilities were, but a normal 777-fold increase probably meant something like that.

It was hard to tell with Tania and Io since they were just firing spells, but Helene’s “art” was very evident.

「Kyaa!」

She slipped. She tripped over a rock at her feet and took a magnificent tumble.

A bandit jumped at the chance—and was instantly cut in half by Helene while she was still down in a fallen posture.

Her movements were slow, and she made clumsy mistakes like tripping easily, but the dagger art I had lent her was unquestionably strong.

And the girls themselves were aware of it.

「Princess, you’d better not move around too much and instead intercept them as they come.」

「I’ll do that.」

The bandits were defeated one by one.

The test could be called a great success.

And there was another harvest.

I noticed that lottery tickets occasionally dropped from the bandits the three of them defeated.

I had wondered if this might happen. I didn’t know if it was because they were with me or because I had lent them my power, but I had a hunch they might drop.

Sure enough, they dropped properly, which left me satisfied.

(Are you not going to interfere?)

Eleanor asked in my mind.

「It’s fun watching the women fight. Especially when they’re fighting with my power.」

(Just like when I used to lead the army of the dead.)

「I can’t believe I’m being lumped in with that…… Well, I suppose it’s similar enough, though.」

Chatting idly with Eleanor, I entered full spectator mode.

In less than five minutes, the three of them alone had completely wiped out the bandits. The only thing resembling a pinch was when Helene tripped, and none of them had a single scratch.

Again, only Helene had moved around a lot, so she was breathing heavily. Maybe I should have lent her stamina or physical strength as well.

Well, no problem; the test results were thoroughly satisfying.

As expected, I should draw more and more lottery tickets. I ought to stockpile as many as possible during this limited-time event.

The three of them came walking back to me, chatting and laughing. I thought of some words of praise to give them.

Suddenly, a man jumped out from the side!

The man grabbed Helene from behind in a full nelson and seized the wrist holding her dagger.

「Don’t move! I don’t care what happens to her!」

「Princess!」

The man used Helene as a shield.

Tania and Io were too close to fire their magic safely, and Helene—whose dagger was restricted and who was locked in a pure contest of physical strength—could not break free from the man’s hold.

「Princess? Heh, I don’t know what kind of royalty she is, but if you want to spare her life, don’t try anything stupid. I’m a man of my word when I say I’ll do it.」

The man grabbed Helene by the neck, demonstrating that he could kill her at any moment.

「……」

I silently drew Eleanor.

「You bastard, making me see—」

In an instant, I stepped forward and sliced off both of the man’s arms with Eleanor so precisely that Helene wasn’t harmed at all.

「Eh?」

His arms fluttered through the air. The man didn’t seem to understand what had just happened.

He didn’t need to understand.

I pulled Helene in close, hugged her, and severed the man’s head.

That was the last of them, and this time the bandit group was truly, completely annihilated.

「Sorry I put you in danger.」

Helene remained completely calm.

「I knew it would be fine since Kakeru-sama was here.」

「I see.」

Helene was as calm and composed as ever.

That was how we destroyed the bandit group.

As an aside, Delfina, when she heard about it later, appealed to me, saying, 「I—I actually know how to use a whip too.」

Next time, I’ll take her along with me.