“Dare…! Dare?! You little elementary unit brats calling me a fool?!”
Garitosa screamed and wildly swung her staff.
─ Clang!
Just like in the game, mechanical birds descended from the ceiling, and the doors opened as automatons poured out.
The number of them walking out was exactly the same, so I, Murmur, felt not panic but rather relief.
Without knowing Garitosa’s patterns, one would easily get bogged down and face a game over.
“Tch…!”
I, Murmur, calmly used wind magic to knock all the flying mechanical birds out of the sky.
Next, I blocked the approaching automatons on either side using the spirits summoned earlier.
Chocolate pudding-like Earth Spirit Talorin’s stickiness and the massive bubble mass that is Water Spirit Niyara were their fatal weaknesses.
“I’ll crush you…! Murmur! I’ll make you regret calling me a fool for the rest of your life!”
“Don’t call me a fool! That sort of thing will never happen! Teacher Garitosa, you’re the fool!”
“Don’t call me a fooleeeee!!”
As much as Garitosa raged, that was all she could do.
She didn’t swing her staff to attack us.
She didn’t unleash flashy magic to assault us.
She just stood there, ranting and fuming.
Garitosa’s first weakness: She does nothing unless attacked first. So, don’t provoke her!
“Citrine! Use ice magic! Murmur and I will freeze everything solid!”
“Understood, my lady!”
Citrine quickly cast spells, freezing the automatons turned into muddy, watery messes.
─ Creak, Crrreeeak!
They broke down one by one with an unbearable screeching sound.
Garitosa’s second weakness: Don’t try to destroy each automaton individually. Instead, apply a ‘Non-Operational’ debuff and leave them be!
First-time players wouldn’t know how to debuff them, but I, Murmur, do.
“Y-you…! Brats!”
“Teacher Garitosa, you’re a fool who even loses to elementary kids!”
I, Murmur, shouted and swiftly shot an icicle at Garitosa.
─ Boom!
“Haha! Fool! Idiot! As expected, lowly demons!”
The automaton beside Garitosa with a magic stone embedded in it blocked the icicle with its shield.
Knowing this pattern, I quickly conjured up a massive gust with both hands.
─ Whoosh!
The archer automaton with an embedded magic stone predictably fired an arrow at the expected timing, but due to the gale I created, it became meaningless.
“This time, I’ll utterly destroy you! Elementary brats!”
─ Thud!
Garitosa swung her staff again, emitting magical energy.
Garitosa defends herself using students standing nearby, counterattacks, then summons more mechanical birds and automatons.
This pattern repeats every time she is attacked, so recklessly attacking Garitosa leads to being surrounded by endless enemies and total annihilation.
Most attacks are blocked by students with shields, leaving players stuck in a quagmire.
“Citrine! Do the same as before!”
“Understood!”
But I, Murmur, know.
Nothing in this world is truly ‘endless.’
Even an all-you-can-eat meat shop has a two-hour limit when it gets busy!
“Talorin! Niyara! Protect Murmur and Citrine!”
─ Squish! Squelch!
Summoning more spirits with both hands, I dismantled the incoming mechanical birds and automatons.
Citrine sensibly froze them solid, turning them ‘Non-Operational.’
The broken automatons and mechanical birds piled up bit by bit in the hallway.
“Hahahaha! You’re scared now, aren’t you? Scared! That’s right! Just like the cowardly demon you are!”
I casually threw a small fireball at Garitosa’s face.
As expected, she swung her staff again.
The automaton with the heavy shield uselessly blocked another feeble attack while preparing a counterattack, summoning more enemies.
I, Murmur, obediently repeated this action three more times.
“Foolishness! Meaningless! You’ll waste your magic and stamina here, then be captured and tortured to d*ath by me!”
Garitosa burst into a nasty laugh.
“Especially! You! Citrine! I can’t wait to see what kind of screams Murmur will let out…”
Citrine cut off Garitosa’s noisy rant by throwing a sharp wind spell at her cheek.
As predicted, red bl**d trickled down Garitosa’s cheek.
“Eek! Eeek! Fool! Stupid automaton! What are you doing with that heavy shield?! Why are you just standing there?! Protect me! Protect me, I said!”
Garitosa hysterically hit the automaton with the embedded magic stone with her staff.
“Miss Murmur… Could it be…?”
Smart Citrine seemed to have figured out my plan.
“Citrine!! Please help me, Murmur!”
I shouted, grabbed a sword lying on the ground, and quickly charged towards Garitosa.
“Eeek!!! How dare you, you little brat!”
Garitosa desperately swung her staff, creating a protective barrier.
“Ughhh!”
I swung the sword with all my might.
─ Thud!
As expected, the sword failed to break the barrier.
Instead, the automaton with the embedded magic stone swung its large bow and struck my chest.
─ BOOM!
Fortunately, before I flew away like a baseball, Earth Spirit Talorin softly caught me.
“Hahahaha! How foolish! How weak! How could a brat like you break the barrier I’ve created… Huh?”
“Teacher Garitosa is indeed the fool Murmur thought she was!”
Citrine laughed and pulled the string of the ‘net g*n’ she held.
Of course, she brought the right handbag!
Last time when we went to rescue Monica, she also pulled out an ‘infinite ladder’ from that handbag!
It’s not for nothing that Citrine is called a ‘whale player.’
“O~Ho ho ho! This automaton will be very useful for Miss Murmur and me!”
Seeing the shield-wielding automaton, Citrine quickly dragged it forward, disassembled it at lightning speed, and began reassembling it.
“You, you! Do you know how much that costs?! Give it back!!!”
Garitosa flailed her staff, but no more mechanical birds or automatons appeared.
This is Garitosa’s final weakness.
When enough defeated enemies pile up, no more reinforcements appear!
The reason enemies seem endless is because the broken mechanical birds and automatons are ‘re-assembled,’ after all!
“What… What is this… Why isn’t the summon working?!”
Garitosa stepped back.
“Citrine! How’s it going?”
“It’s possible to give simple commands now!”
In the game, it was a student, so Citrine used her ‘persuasion skills’ to manipulate them, but the result seems the same.
The reason they succumb to status ailments must be due to the excessive number of surrounding automatons and mechanical birds. When they were students, it was described as panic!
“Then please help me, Murmur!”
While speaking, I charged at Garitosa again.
“Stop! Stop! Stop meeeee!”
Garitosa stumbled backward while shouting.
The archer automaton lunged at me, but the reassembled shield automaton performed a body check and pushed it away.
“Miss Murmur! Teach the fool a lesson!”
With Citrine’s encouragement, I swung the sword in my hand.
─ BOOM!
“Uwaaagh!”
As expected, the barrier didn’t break, but Garitosa trembled, clutching her head with both hands.
“d*mn… d*mn d*mn d*mn!”
Garitosa pointed at me, looking indignant.
“Wait! Wait! Let’s make a deal! A deal, Murmur!”
“Murmur has nothing to discuss with a foolish teacher.”
Without protection from automatons or mechanical bird attacks, breaking the barrier is easy.
If necessary, I could summon a spirit of fire and turn it into a steamy hot sauna.
“You, you! You! Of course you have some scheme, right? Right? There’s no way a dirty demon would help a smelly dwarf without reason!”
Is this really a deal?
“I’m… If I just push a little further, I can figure it out…”
“Miss Murmur, what kind of fool do you take me for?”
Citrine approached me, putting the net g*n back into her handbag while looking exasperated.
“You! You too have a scheme, right? Right? Helping Torlin was because you wanted the favor of Lady Crimsonbrand, wasn’t it?”
“I merely helped Miss Murmur do what she wished to do.”
“Lie! Lie! There’s no way you’d do something without gain!!”
Garitosa shrieked while trembling, pointing at me again.
“I… If I discover the secret, I’ll tell you. Isn’t that something a demon like you would want?”
“Murmur doesn’t need any secrets…”
“Shut up! There’s no way! You, you! I know everything! You wanted to become a hero, right?! If I discover the secret of the Holy Sword, I’ll tell you!”
Garitosa smiled.
“The selection of the Holy Sword grants the opportunity to take the hero selection exam at the academy, right? You, you could get that chance!”
“Murmur doesn’t need that.”
“Don’t joke around! Then why did you come here! Why fight me! Why why! Why! When there’s no benefit, why did you give up the exam and come here!”
Garitosa frantically clutched the ground with both hands while stepping back.
Her pitiful appearance didn’t even make me laugh.
“Torlin is Murmur’s friend.”
“What…?”
“It’s natural to save a friend in danger. If I can’t even do that…”
I gathered both hands together to create a giant fireball.
“You… That… Mu, what are you saying. You shouldn’t say that. You shouldn’t…”
“Murmur can’t become a hero!!”
“Demons like you shouldn’t say that ooooooh!!!”
─ CLANG!!!
Garitosa couldn’t even maintain her protective barrier until the end and miserably collapsed.
*
《Quest Completed!》
《Defeat Garitosa de Monte Negro!》
《Reward: ???》
“Ugh… She remained a fool until the end.”
Citrine shook her head as she looked down at the deranged Garitosa.
Garitosa’s face grew paler and paler.
The runes on the staff she gripped began to blink irregularly, and blue light crawled up her arm.
“Demons… No… Heroes are our… hope… Someone like you… No… Can’t accept it…”
Magic flowed visibly under her skin. The excessive magic stones she had implanted were eating away at her mind.
Garitosa mumbled incoherently with a completely broken expression, even wetting herself.
“Worked hard… Prepared… Demon… Holy Sword…”
“Teacher Garitosa? Teacher Garitosa?”
Citrine nudged Garitosa’s stomach with her toe, but there was no response.
“She’s completely lost her mind.”
“Murmur thought she would. Calling Teacher Garitosa a fool wasn’t done lightly.”
I nodded toward the staff Garitosa still clutched.
“Citrine should examine it.”
“This staff has an incredible amount of magic stones embedded, and there’s a rune stone at the tip…”
“Teacher Garitosa didn’t know how dangerous this was and just excitedly waved it around.”
“Truly, a genuine fool and idiot. Mishandling this could lead to more than just magic poisoning and becoming dazed like now…”
Citrine stuck out her tongue and shook her head.
Even in the high school chapter, she suffers from magic poisoning while wielding this staff—there’s no way a middle schooler could endure it.
Strangely, it’s been modified even further. There weren’t any rune stones before.
“Still, isn’t Miss Murmur disappointed?”
“With what?”
“…If we had negotiated well with this fool, Miss Murmur could have learned the secret of the Holy Sword.”
So Citrine wants to say that if I had, I could have become the hero I dream of, right?
I smiled once, seeing Citrine’s true thoughts clearly.
“Murmur doesn’t need that. I’ll become a hero properly. By saving friends, protecting precious people, doing lots of good deeds, and proving that Murmur can also become a hero!”
“Indeed, worthy of Miss Murmur.”
I already know what secrets are hidden within the Holy Sword.
“Let’s wake Esme and Monica first!”
Giving up immediate gains to rescue friends.
A truly fairytale-style hero.
