https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/72/
Real Worth
The morning sun filtered in through the window. Lily was standing in front of the window when I woke up, gazing outside while enjoying the refreshing morning breeze.
“See any dragons?”
“Yes. Two actually.”
A joke for a joke. I laughed a little and crawled back under the warm blanket for a little longer.
“It’s true. Would you like to see?”
I’ll probably end up seeing more dragons than I could ever want before this round is done, so I answered her by wrapping the comforter around my body more tightly to get some sleep. Lily selfishly refused to accept that answer though and peeled the blanket off of me.
“Seeing two dragons is meant to be good luck. Come, take a look.”
I was forcefully dragged in front of the window and made to look out. I could see smoke rising towards the sky from the top of a mountain way off in the distance, so I’m guessing that one is the volcano. I could just barely make out two bird-like figures darting back and forth around that volcano. I’d never be able to make out a bird from this distance, so it’s got to be a dragon.
“Perhaps they are a pair. The two of them keep coming together and separating. Maybe they are two women as well, having a secret liaison away the nest.”
“Maybe”
“What a lackluster reaction. Well it’s fine. It is time for us to head out.”
Lily threw on her set of training gear that was loosely hanging off her chair.
“Don’t tell me…. you’re going to do your morning training even here?”
“Of course we are. Don’t you think it will be nice to run a different route while we have the chance? Now quickly get back to your room and get your own clothes…. but put something on first.”
I didn’t notice because I’m half-asleep, but I’m still naked. I pulled the sheets off Lily’s bed to cover my body and sprinted down the hallway to get back to my room before anyone could see me.
♠
After wiping off all the sweat I built up while doing my morning routine with Lily, I moved to the dining room to have breakfast.
Rather than rushing off to the volcano to throw ourselves at a dragon, our group met in the garden to start running simulations of the battle.
Lily and Ran took turns attacking an iron plate wrapped around a slab of pork that was meant to simulate a dragon’s scales. This was to check ahead of time how well their weapons could perform.
Each time Lily’s blade made contact with the armor, there was a dull ringing followed by a shower of sparks thrown in the air. Ran was using her martial arts to punch the plate, and that brought out its own high-pitched ringing.
After the two of them attacked around ten times, we removed the iron plate to see what state the meat was in.
“Well that is to be expected.”
“Haha, it looks delicious still.”
Lily and Ran seemed to have never expected anything different when they saw the raw chunk of undamaged meat. Meaning if we don’t have something to change the current situation, we aren’t going to be able to leave a single scratch on a dragon.
“Now then. Time to see what Liffy’s dance can do.”
Lily waved me over while giving me an unsure smile.
The dance of a dancer can enhance the strength of those around them. I suggested it as an alternative to a mage’s buffing spells.
“Hmm…. then I can start with the ‘Step Dance’ to increase leg strength, the ‘Sword Dance’ which increases the sharpness of your weapons, and finish with a ‘Kata’ to increase your strength itself.”1
“All right then. We can see how it goes and work from there. Do your dances have an effect on everyone around you?”
“Yes, well…. I don’t know…. I’ve never done a dance for combat before.”
“Then we can verify that while we are at it. Peony and Nerine, please ready your weapons as well.”
Lily motioned her chin towards some wooden short swords laying on the ground a short bit away. Peony would stand back until someone got hurt to focus on healing, and Nerine is basically just a cheerleader. In other words, neither of them had any kind of weapon of their own.
When each of the four had their weapons and had gathered around the lump of meat, I began my dance.
First would be the Step Dance. Taking a deep breath, I moved while consciously making sure the upper half of my body did not move from the space it currently occupied. My arms hung loosely at my side, and only legs moved to the soundless beat, as if everything besides them had been frozen in time.
For a moment, my four companions stood motionlessly around the slab of meat, just staring at me.
“No! You guys are supposed to move around!”
“Oh…. of course. Your dance was beautiful, so, yes.”
After Lily unusually tripped over her own words, everyone began running around the garden at the same time.
“Whoa! This is amazing! We’re moving so fast!”
“And fun! Isn’t this more comfortable than with the magic?”
The four of them were running around randomly this way and that while voicing their impressions aloud. I remained in the center of the garden, vainly dancing by myself to no music.
Lily started from the lump of meat and ran to the very edge of the garden. From stop to start, she reached showed an unparalleled acceleration, moving faster than a galloping horse and reaching her destination in no time at all. She stopped at the wall on the outer edge of the garden, taking just a second to stretch her body, and then sprinted back to me just as I was finishing my dance.
Her hair wasn’t able to keep up with the momentum of the rest of her body, so with her forehead exposed, Lily took a second to fix her bangs while nodding her head.
“Not bad. The area of effect is also quite wide. We can use this. We should check to see how far the effect can reach later. And for the next dance, we should see if you can make it apply to everyone besides Peony.”
“Um…. I can understand why we’d want to know how far the dance’s range is, but is there any point in limiting the number of people who get the buff?”
Lily lowered her head and brought her lips right next to my ear.
“Not every person is an ally right?”
Goosebumps ran up my arms and back. Lily’s envisioning a fight with other humans, and she’s running undert he assumption that I’ll be there with her.
I turned my gaze towards her and nodded to show her I understood. Lily tapped my shoulder once and returned to the lump of meat, raising her voice only once she was in position.
“Then next, let us try out your Sword Dance. But now that I think of it, I do not have a spare sword for you to dance with. What should we do?”
“It’s all about the feeling, so there won’t be a problem!”
The others once again took their own positions around the target and this time readied the weapons they had as if they were about to start into a fight.
I honestly hadn’t put too much thought into the specific dances I would perform before now, but while this meant I hadn’t prepared a sword for the Sword Dance beforehand, it wouldn’t matter so long as I danced with the image off having one in my mind. The real issue was how to make this dance affect everyone besides Peony. I have no idea how I’m supposed to make that work, so I just began my dance while focusing hard on Lily, Ran, and Nerine.
As I began, I moved as if I was holding a blade in both my hands. My legs and waste created a strong base as my upper body and arms moved in sync as if I were cutting down a ring of enemies around me. I doubt I’d do as well in an actual battle as I’m doing in the image I’ve created for myself in this dance.
Each of my companions took turns attacking the armored pig starting with Lily. Just as the high-pitched squeal of metal on metal touched my ears, I saw half of the iron plate fall to the ground with a dull thud.
Ran punched another one of the plates. Again, their was a loud creak of metal that rang out. This time though it was followed by Ran’s grunts as she fruitlessly tried yanking out the arm that had sunk into the meat.
Finally, after I saw Nerine and Peony slash with all their might using the wooden swords they had, I stopped my dance and came up next to the others.
Lily circled around the target, taking in the wounds left by the other three.
“How was it?”
“Surprising. I never expected the difference to be this great.”
Taking a look at the wound left behind, or rather, the sheet of metal that had been cut clean in half, Lily’s voice was mixed with a sense of surprise and joy.
“Hey I’m still stuck here! Get me out!”
Ran yelled at us from the other side of the pig. When I came to her side, I found the metal was dented inward, and her fist had gone clean through. There’s not much an attack like that couldn’t kill with how deeply her fist is shoved into the meat.
Everyone had to work together to pull Ran out. Eventually we managed to make it work, but with all of us putting our full backs into it, we all ended up falling on our butts when it finally gave.
“I remember a fairy tale similar to this I heard when I was young. One about someone pulling out a large turnip from the ground.”2
Lily murmured while brushing the dirt off her clothes.
“Oh I know that one. I’m surprised the big noble families tell that one too.”
“I see. I suppose rank does not mater for that sort of thing.”
Nerine naturally slid in to a conversation with Lily, and the tone from both didn’t give off any kind of ill will between the two. I could feel at ease knowing that the relationship between our team was safe for at least the moment.
“Then what about the damage done from the other two? For Nerine and Peony…. wow.”
When we all circled around to the side Nerine had been standing at, we found a small scrape in the metal. She had just been using a wooden sword, yet there was a decent sized mark gouged into the metal. Nerine isn’t a swordswoman, and with the weapon she had been using, we could definitely deem this as a sufficient result.
“And Peony?”
“Nothing for it. I hit it as hard as I could, but the thing just bounced off and now my hands feel numb.”
Meaning I really can decide mentally who does and does not get affected by my dance. Lily never explained specifically why that would be so important to know, so there must be some things she still doesn’t want everyone to hear. It’s a little heartbreaking, but I can understand why you’d want to keep some details to yourself since we haven’t reached the final judging yet.
“Then we can test out the last dance after we have changed out these iron plates.”
Lily easily lifted up a new set of heavy iron plates as she said that. Even without any kind of buff, it’ll be for the best to not get into any fistfights with her.
We all moved to our original starting points after resetting our target.
It would be the Kata this time. It’s a dance that strengthens a person’s muscles rather than their weapons, so it should be especially effective against a fighter like Ran.
“Hah!” In order to get fired up, I released a mighty froar from the pit off my stomach.
“W-What?”
It made Ran jump and turn around towards me.
“It’s apparently part off the dance. When my coach first started teaching me this one, we spent hours just getting the shout down right.”
“R-Really? Sorry I interrupted you then.”
When Ran turned back around, I began again from the beginning. As I shouted, I stuck out a fist straight in front of me. As my arms and legs moved together in sync, they came to a complete stop before moving to strike the next movement. This is a dance that makes full use of the stillness and movement Rose first taught me about.
When Lily first attacked the iron plate in front of her, the sound was duller than it had been with the sword dance.
When Ran hit it, the iron plate shattered into bits, and the meat exploded from underneath. Lily just barely managed to jump out of the way when the force of the blast launched the iron plate on her side straight towards her head.
While I was amazed at her reflexes, Lily picked herself off the ground and flicked Ran’s forehead.
“That was dangerous Ran.”
“Ahahaha…. my bad. I didn’t think the whole thing would fly away like that.”
“Well, we have a good guess on how effective this one would be. I was unable to do much damage with my sword, and we can assume it will be the same with a wooden one. At the very least, we can draw the conclusion that our current weapons will be capable of damaging a dragon.”
“Maybe, but the real thing is going to be moving around. Plus it can fly. It isn’t going to just sit there and let us kill it.”
“Yes, I know. Which is why we will need some magical support.”
Lily’s eyes fell on Nerine whose own eyes opened wide like saucers as her head spun around to see if there was anyone else she could be looking at instead.
1. The raw just called this last one Karate but I changed it to Kata since I assume that’s what it would be referring to. Kata being a series of exercises inside Karate that can look like a dance.
2. The Gigantic Turnip if you’re curious.
Experimental Translations 