Fool's Battle (I)

“A slave wagon?”

I repeat the words in disbelief. They feel so alien that it doesn’t even sound like my own voice saying them.

“Yeah. It must be transporting them from the docks to the marketplace. Or maybe a holding camp nearby.”

Once again, it feels as if my entire brain has frozen. I struggle to process those words and what they actually mean. It takes a few moments before it finally clicks for me.

But the moment it does, my body begins to move on its own.

“No… no! I have to do something!”

“Huh? Wait, what are you doing?”

“I need to help them!”

Without thinking, I run forward and swiftly catch up to the slave wagon. I jump onto the back of it and begin pulling hard on the bars.

“Dammit… dammit… they won’t come off!”

I try everything I can to create an opening for the slaves inside to escape, but it’s no use.

It isn’t long before the carriage driver notices me.

“Hey! What are you doing back there!?”

“Oh shit!”

“You trying to steal my merchandise? Get off you thief!”

The woman dismounts the carriage and runs over to smack me off the wagon with a club in her hand. The sharp strike sends me tumbling onto my ass and reeling from the pain.

“Ahhh… dammit…”

“Hands off, handsome! I’m taking these to the marketplace right now. If you really want one, then I’ll sell it to you there.”

Marketplace? Merchandise? How can she even say such things? Is she insane?

“No… you can’t… you can’t sell them… they’re people…”

“Huh!? Hey, hey, hey, are you drunk or something, buddy? Can’t you see these are just some demons?”

Demons…?

Now that I’m looking more closely, I can see that the people in the cage wagon actually look peculiar. Although they are all humanoid, some have horns and wings, some have animal ears, and one of them even looks like a lizard person. They don’t look too different from humans, so I didn’t notice until it was pointed out.

So what? They’re just demons? It’s okay because they’re not human? Is that what she’s saying?

“No… I can’t accept that…”

“Huh?”

“I won’t let you!”

I rise up off the ground with anger and immediately swing at the driver.

“Woah there!”

She dodges the blow by a hair and quickly takes a few steps back to get out of my range.

“Hey, hey, hey, are you serious about this? Do you even know what you’re doing right now?”

“Shut up! Let them go right now. I won’t warn you again.”

I raise my fists into a fighting stance to show her exactly how serious I am.

“Hmph. You’re crazy if you think I’m just gonna give you my merchandise just like that. Don’t think you’re the first to ever try and steal from me. I paid a lot of money to bring them here and I’m not gonna let a single one go for free.”

The driver also takes a fighting stance. From that alone, I can tell she’s no stranger to combat.

Taking a proper look at her now, she’s a young woman who seems around my age. She has a slender, athletic build and fiery red hair worn in a ponytail.

In her right hand is the wooden stick she hit me with earlier. To be precise, it’s more of a one-handed short staff, thin and circular but long enough to swing around like a sword. Although it looks like a rather primitive weapon, I know from experience that getting hit by it still hurts like hell.

But that doesn’t matter. No matter the pain, I have to do this.

“Get out of my way!”

I roar as I quickly charge towards her with my fists raised

But she’s even faster. Before I even get to her, she strikes me with her staff.

One! Two! Three! In an instant, she lands three consecutive strikes in swift succession and knocks me back onto the floor.

“Too easy.”

She smugly quips after seeing me laid out on the ground again.

Dammit. Not only is she faster than me, but her reach is way longer. I literally can’t get to her without getting hit first. In that case…

“This time I’ve got you!”

“Tch. Really? You still wanna go?”

I rush back into the battle and charge at her once again.

Just like before, she’s ready to strike me the moment I enter her range.

But this time, I’m ready for it. I have a trump card just for this!

“「 Endure 」”

I activate my skill just before her attack lands.

An instant later, her staff hits me right in my side… and I just shrug it off.

“What!?”

Yes, it worked. My plan succeeded.

If it’s impossible for me to hit her before she hits me, then I simply need to be able to survive that first hit.

And now, I’m finally in range to attack.

“I’ve got you now!!”

I wind up my fist and throw a full haymaker at her.

At this speed and range, she won’t be able to pull back her weapon in time to block or counterattack. Not only that, but she’s caught off-guard by my surprise skill.

There’s nothing she can do—

“「 Whirlwind Step 」”

Huh?

It happens so fast that I can barely see any of it.

All I can tell is that in the split second before I punch her, the woman somehow moves at blinding speeds to dodge and counterattack.

The next thing I know, I’m looking up at the sky again.

“Phew. Okay, that one was pretty good. You caught me by surprise there, buddy.”

“Agghhh… no way…”

My body is burning with pain. My stomach feels like it’s on fire and my vision is starting to get blurry.

It was kicks. In that split second, she stepped back out of my range and then kicked me multiple times in the stomach and once on the chin. All in a single breath, before I could even blink.

How did she move that fast? The answer is obvious.

She used her Skill.

Just as I had a Skill I could use, she naturally has her own too. And of course, between my weak default Skill and the Skill of someone who’s lived their whole life in this world, it’s obvious which one is stronger.

From the very beginning, I never stood a chance.

“Okay. Did that sober you up, buddy? Can we call it quits now?”

The carriage driver asks me in a peppy, friendly voice.

Her casual manner of speech tells the whole story. She doesn’t see me as a threat. Not once in this whole battle did she need to take me seriously. That’s how far apart our levels are.

I can’t do it. I can’t beat her. I can’t save them.

I don’t have any weapons. I don’t have any skills. I don’t have any power.

There’s nothing I can do…

「 You have gained 5 SP 」

「 You can use SP to upgrade your items 」

… or maybe there is.