Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume4 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 3===

With that, we arrive back at the present.

Utagai Karuta hesitantly looked up at the bottom of the giant heliport being used as the tournament stage.

The people couldn’t be allowed to see the world’s strongest working so hard, but no one would expect to find anything hidden so close to the action. Tightly locking up the gym and training there would have roused much more suspicion. According to the president, the best hiding places were also the easiest to guess, which was why everyone always checked below the bed or in the attic. He really wished she wouldn’t grin and ask him if he knew what she meant, though.

The beam that had blasted a desert island and an ocean wind power plant was burned into his retinas as an afterimage. Was the audience safe? If something like that hit Karuta head on, he would be vaporized before the regeneration could even begin.

“Whoa, now who saw that coming?” said the commentator.

But it wasn’t the great power of the magic that scared him.

It was how everyone accepted it as normal.

“Eikele Tir-na-Nog was not in fact vaporized! She used her magic to blend into the background while the bright beam hid her from view and she just got a solid hit in on the back of the Valkyrie’s head when her guard was dowwwwwwwwn!!!!!!!”

The crowd cheered, shaking the entire 600m triple hull ship.

No one seemed bothered by the bloodshed.

They were simply boiling over with this new form of excitement.

“Yikes. What is this, Ancient Greece? The fighters and the audience aren’t remotely bothered by the killing, are they?”

“Magical battle already don’t feel real to most people, they’re officially allowed to bet on the matches, and this is a big festival separated from their everyday lives. It isn’t uncommon for bloodshed and property damage to be accepted on special days, like Spain’s running of the bulls or Japan’s cart-pulling festival,” explained Letnahe with a composed expression.

“Is that how it works?”

“I know Japan dives into the frigid midwinter ocean or rolls down a hill on giant logs, but India has its fair share of bizarre festivals too.”

She grabbed the chest of her baggy t-shirt to wipe the sweat from her face, but she also kept her arms and legs gently moving during her break so her breathing rhythm never left combat mode. She was probably also intentionally controlling the movements of her internal organs, but Karuta couldn’t see that part. The watch synced with her phone was beeping to alert her of an error.

“You must face them with almost no magic and then win the entire Catastrophe. Once in the ring, no one can help you. Fortunately, your round one match is #7, which puts it near the end of the afternoon matches, so you still have time. Repeat this training and prove just how much someone can accomplish if they truly want to win. The more you know, the more you can respond to.”

“Um, Letnahe-san? Are you enjoying this by any chance?”

“I can’t deny I have some pent-up frustrations and humiliation regarding crystal magic. Mostly thanks to a certain Student Council President I could mention.”

She really did beat him up.

He sparred with her for about two hours until lunchtime, but she was a professional soldier. He had never stood a chance in a direct one-on-one fight. It ended without him ever getting a real counterattack in. All he had learned was that his paper-thin barrier was entirely useless.

He had received the very un-teacherly comment that the regeneration was useful “because I can punch you in the face over and over and never leave any blood or bruises.” But since he was going to be livestreamed around the world ''as the world’s strongest'' it probably was best that he didn’t show up with a split lip and a black eye.

And Letnahe had not given him a break at lunchtime because she was hungry.

“Senpai.”

A small girl approached him while he was sprawled out on his back.

Her name was Natalena Blast.

The 12-year-old middle school girl had fluffy blonde hair cut at shoulder length. The arrival of the underclassman girl here meant the rhythm of the outside world was changing, for better or for worse. The four morning matches must have ended, so most of the audience had left their seats to grab some lunch.

The ship had the energy of a disturbed hornet’s nest. The random flow of people made them harder to predict. Letnahe had given him a break because the crowds could not be allowed to see the world’s strongest working so hard because he was terrified of death and defeat. So once the afternoon matches began, the frustrated wife would once more be beating up with her military skill.

“Natalena,” Karuta groaned from the floor.

“Um, what is it, Senpai?”

“Why are you dressed up as a maid?”

“Let me ask you this: um, do you think I wanted to dress this way? Our class chose to run a maid café. And by ‘chose’, I mean the boys formed a strong pro-maid voting bloc.”

Approaching a high school boy sprawled out on his back while she wore a short maid uniform gave him a very good look at her cute panties, but she didn’t seem to have thought through the viewing angles that well. And once she did notice, he was pretty sure she would deliver a finishing blow to the center of his face with the heel of her enamel shoe, so he forced his aching body to sit up sooner than he would have liked.

“Also, there’s something wrong with Japan’s laws if they can force middle schoolers to work as long as they call it a ‘school event’.”

“Oh? Natalena, what makes you think this ship is bound by Japanese law now that we’re out in international waters?”

“Why did I ever trust this Panama-registered ship!!”

He was pretty sure the ship was not actually registered in Panama and he doubted middle schoolers were allowed to work in Panama either.

For Karuta, this crazy tournament had him one step away from death at any moment, but the rest of the students, who didn’t have to fight in it, were rejoicing at having all their classes canceled throughout. Nothing excited a student more than a weekday without classes. At times, that excitement could win out over the fear of a typhoon or blizzard. And with the large crowd out and about, there was a large demand for food. They would also want to take a look around Second Grimnoah, since they wouldn’t normally be allowed onboard. Since the students didn’t have classes, it was unsurprising they had decided to earn some extra money by having each class open restaurants and such like this was a cultural festival.

Karuta’s 12-year-old underclassman sat directly on the floor and placed a small basket on her lap. She would have been very mad and argued with him if he said so out loud, but she was a natural at this maid thing.

“Here, I brought you some lunch. Um, it’s only a simple sandwich and a drink, though.”

“Thanks.”

When Karuta neatly grabbed the sandwich with a paper napkin, Natalena held a hand to her mouth and laughed. That may not have looked like the action of the arrogant and condescending world’s strongest.

Was this off the maid café’s menu? The sandwich was of unexpectedly high quality. Not only did it have some excellent honey chicken inside, but it was given an extra kick with some whole grain mustard and it contained stir-fried vegetables chopped up finely enough to not be noticeable. It provided an excellent balance of meat, vegetable, and grain in something that was pleasant to eat. You didn’t often see a product with such care in its design even in the professional food service industry.

On the other hand…

“Munch, munch. But if you give people everything they need in one simple package, you’re basically killing any chance at further sales, aren’t you? A maid café isn’t about getting customers in and out as quickly as possible like a stand-up soba stall, so don’t you make your money by having people stay a while and continue to order more food? Like a cake that’s so sweet they need to order a drink, or omurice that’s so greasy they start craving a salad. The key to success is for each item on the menu to be somewhat imperfect.”

“Ugh. I-I don’t care. Um, uh, the maid café was the result of a stupid conspiracy by the dumb boys. We girls wanted nothing to do with it. Anyway, Senpai, can I ask you something that just occurred to me?”

“Sure.”

“Does this mean ''the'' Utagai Karuta – world’s strongest, bane of the Threat, and guardian of the world – has visited maid cafes? And based on how ''opinionated'' you are on the topic, I get the feeling it wasn’t just once or twice.”

“Bff!?”

He just about spat out the sandwich.

That was a perfectly legitimate part of the service industry and the employees there took pride in their work. Karuta had done nothing wrong by going there, but for some reason he found himself unable to look the 12-year-old in the eye.

“…”

He withered under the pressure of her gaze.

It didn’t look like this was something he could escape by shrouding himself in the veil of manly mystery. The underclassman’s silent gaze was quickly turning into the look she would give an insect.

“Um, Senpai? Is this why your crystal magic takes the form of a girl who obeys your every command?”

“Natalena, let’s not get carried away with groundless speculation here! And I take issue with comparing her to a maid. She goes and hides somewhere cramped if you get after her about anything, she carries around a sword, and she eats pure gold! I would be offended if someone pointed at her and called her – ''her'' – the ideal maid!!”

“Oh, god. You really are opinionated about this, aren’t you? I barely said anything and you went on a long rant about it.”

What could he do but look away and clear his throat?

Utagai Karuta needed more training if he would fall for a 12-year-old’s feint.

“Sigh…is every single boy an idiot?”

“Probably, but did you bring me lunch just so you could ask me that?”

“Um, be honest with me. How does it look?” The small maid sighed and refocused her mind. “''Can you survive this?''”

She did not ask if he could win.

Natalena Blast knew the real Utagai Karuta, not just his title. He slowly shrugged.

“Well, it can’t be as bad as fighting the real Threat.”

“That’s not what I asked.” She bluntly rejected his answer. “I’ve seen a wicker man and I’ve seen Futhark runes, but none of the people here seem like they could defeat my sister and the rest of the Problem Solvers. But that’s not the real issue. Karuta-senpai, you became the world’s strongest after defeating Anastasia Blast and her Anubis, but, um, you didn’t defeat her in a one-on-one battle, did you?”

“…”

This girl was watching him carefully.

Which wasn’t too surprising when she had started out hunting him down to avenge her sister.

“You only defeated those much-more-powerful opponents by observing them, making careful preparations, and using trickery and the element of surprise. And it’s not like that always worked. But with the Problem Solvers and the Threat, your starting point and basic stance has always been assassination. In other words, ''you never let them use their real power against you''. …So, um, are you really going to be okay? You can’t run or hide in the ring, so your usual tricks won’t work. Both sides will be going full throttle as soon as the bell rings, so you can’t defeat them before they can attack. The spotlight removes all the shadows and the many cameras will see everything that happens. You can’t hide your true abilities in this fight, Senpai.”

The rules had been reset.

Other than his ability to rapidly heal any nonlethal wound, he was more or less an ordinary high school boy, but he had to defeat magicians gathered from around the world without surprise attacks as an option. If he lost and died or if he won in an ugly way, the world would be disappointed in him and the social unrest leading to riots and looting would spread.

That expectation weighed heavily on him. Even if that was a fairly ordinary concern to have.

The boy ''who had been made into'' the world’s strongest exhaled and spoke.

“I’ll win.”

“…”

“We’re the ones that made the world this way. This only happened because we followed our desire for revenge and killed your sister without even considering what it would do to the world. So we’re responsible for what happens now. None of this will have been worth it if we can’t at least make the world a happier place than it was under the Problem Solvers. We didn’t like how the world was run and now unrest is running rampant and there’s a real threat of riots and looting. So we need to create a better world ourselves.”

There had been no morality in that battle.

It was true Anastasia and the other four had sunk the first ship and slaughtered most of the students and teachers, but that was no justification for Karuta’s group to hunt them down for revenge without ever considering the possibility of letting the police and the courts resolve the issue.

Two wrongs did not make a right, so now everything had sunken into a thick bog. But the sun still rose in the mornings and set in the evenings as it had before.

The strongests’ battles were nothing but a great farce full of hypocrisy and deception, but he did know that most of the people living in this same world had done nothing wrong. So he couldn’t just give up because the world had gone wrong. If he did that, he wouldn’t just be crushed below the contradictions of morality – he would have fallen to the level of pure evil.

“So my basic policy remains the same: ''I’ll do whatever I can.'' It’s just that ‘whatever I can’ is going to look different this time.”

“Senpai…”

“And, Natalena, you know how greedily stubborn I can get when I have my mind set on something, don’t you? So I’ll be fine. If I say I’ll win, then I swear to you I’ll win. ''No matter what it takes.'' Maybe I’m not the best fit for this job, but that just means I have to make myself fit.”