Master’s Smile

Chapter 6: Kühling1 and Krankheit

"So… Just why the hell were the two of us paired together?"

Brushing aside hair so red it seemed as if it could burst into flame; a woman looked to her side gloomily. From the way she kept clicking her tongue, it wasn't hard to see that she was in a bad mood. Her absurdly large bosom rested on the arms crossed beneath.

"That's what I'd like to know. Really, having me pair up with someone as crude as you… Just what was the Master thinking…?"

Beside the red-haired woman stood another one. She had silver hair a few shades darker than Schwarz's own, which she had curled up into refined rolls.

While the way she spoke could be defined as mature, she possessed an awfully awkward undertone that slipped between her words. Feeling undaunted, the woman moved to cross her arms beneath her breasts, but to her eternal shame, they just would not rest there the same way the red-headed woman's did.

"I'm sure that the Master feels sorry for me. To think that I'd have to team up with someone that talks as strangely as you do… Honestly, even misfortune should have its limits."

"J-Just what do you mean by 'strange'?! This is how I always talk, you know…"

"Liar."

Cold sweat dribbled down her face, but the silver-haired woman refused to alter her pattern of speech. Seeing her state, the other woman sighed.

"Hey… What the Hell are you two blabbering about so casually, huh?"

From the silent, onlooking subjugation squad, a single man raised this question as blood began to rush to his head.

"Look, you do get the situation you're in, right?"

"Do we get it…? You're the guys after the guild… You're the idiots, the morons, the dunces, the bastards who've done stuff that just makes me want you to die off already, the ones after the Master, aren't you? We know."

In response to the redhead’s thoroughly crafted provocations, the anger bubbling inside the men was stirred up all the more. That being said, the red-haired woman's words had not been meant as a means of deliberate provocation.

To tell the truth, she had merely said what had been on her mind. To her, raising a hand against the Master could be seen as nothing but foolishness.

"As much as I hate to agree, Kühling makes a good point. And besides, while I very much doubt that the Master would lose to people of your level, as soon as you point those swords of yours toward him you'll find yourselves the target of my attack."

The silver-haired woman had decided to agitate the men as well. Taking the Master's ability into consideration, there was no reason for the members of Yelquchira to protect him.

But regardless, every single member of Yelquchira was prone to treating the Master's enemies as if they were their own sworn foes. Even the silver-haired woman recognized the subjugation squad as such.

"Oh. So you can say something sensible every once in a while, Krankheit."

"A properly matured adult woman only speaks when there's a reason to, Kühling."

The red-haired woman - Kühling - admired the silver-haired one - Krankheit - with a look that fell onto her from above. Krankheit, in spite of the throbbing vein visible on her forehead, had recognized and pushed her own anger back down into the depths of her mind. Within the mental list of killers Kühling always kept close, Krankheit's name just happened to be engraved into the very top.

"We're facing members of that dark guild! Don't be fooled by appearances! Surround them, beat them down!"

While the man's rough vernacular (speech) and attitude made it hard to picture, he really wasn't all that dim in the head. Despite their lovely appearances, which could surpass any given noblewoman or brothel wench, he had not instructed his comrades to treat them as if they were such and had instead ordered them to keep their wits about.

Adhering to his orders, the members of the grey guild formed a circle around Kühling and Krankheit. The kingdom knights, albeit somewhat unwillingly, found the plan of encircling the two to be acceptable and moved to do the same.

"Well, that was unexpected. I was under the impression that charging in was the only thing they could do."

Kühling looked around, then gave a nod of approval. While she felt no sense of danger from being surrounded, they had at least managed to become somewhat more worthwhile in her eyes.

"Still, as much as it pains me to say this… You do realize that you're being surrounded too, don't you?"

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

Facing the subjugation squad, Kühling jabbed her finger their way with a smug look on her face. Kühling and Krankheit were the only ones who were supposed to be surrounded. Just as the man was about to call them on their bluff…

"…!"

The men, each of them with their own measure of experience, suddenly sensed another presence apart from themselves and the two women. This presence surrounded them in a circle, one even larger than the one they had formed around Kühling and Krankheit.

"Watch out! There's something surrounding -"

"Come on now, don't you think that was a little slow?"

Disconcerted, the man attempted to warn the others about their surroundings, but Kühling gave a wide grin.

"Gyaaaaaah!"

In accordance with Kühling's words, an arrow had shot forward and impaled one of the men surrounding her. As the first served as an instigator, arrows began flying in one after the other, aimed at the men.

"Shit!!"

The subjugation squad still somehow fended themselves against them. While many of them were struck by the arrows, they managed to find their footing quickly and moved to make a new plan of attack.

As experienced in battle as they were, immediately fending off arrows was little cause for strain. Having finally gotten a grasp on their surroundings, the men could, at last, see who had fired in their direction.

"Wha…!?!"

Had the men been any more surprised, their eyes might have just jumped out of their skulls. The ones that had attacked the subjugation squad weren't humans, but monsters - goblins, to be exact.

It wasn't the fact that goblins had come all the way here just to attack them that was the cause for their surprise. Goblins were, after all, monsters that were a dime a dozen; they could be found in droves in just about every forest. They were also renowned for being a vulgar, warlike species of monsters that would go out of their way to attack anyone, even humans.

"Okay, that's the way to go! Don't stop firing those arrows now!"

What had caught the men by surprise was the idea that goblins were taking orders from a human. Goblins were low on intelligence, and would, in all likelihood, not even respond to the orders of the Demon King, ruler of all demon clans. It was those same monsters that were now taking orders from a young human woman they would have normally attacked without question; they showed absolutely no defiance, instead willingly following her directives to the letter.

"R-Ridiculous! Why would a goblin serve a human…!?"

The man roared as beads of sweat began to form on his face. Exposed to their attack were both the men surrounding Kühling and Krankheit herself.

"W-Why am I getting attacked?!"

"Oh, sorry. That was on purpose."

"You- Yooou don't even feel like apologizing, do you?!"

Krankheit was finally showing emotion, even if it was only through her desperate evasion of the incoming arrows. Sticking out her tongue and rapping her knuckles against her skull, Kühling seemed to ask for forgiveness. But even the men, who had never met her before in their lives, could see that her regret was barely even skin deep.

"Okay then, that should be just about enough, goblins! Switch to close-quarter combat! Kill them all, leave none alive!"

"Gyagyagyagya…"

Using that vile, disgusting noise, the goblins replied to Kühling's orders. One by one, they cast aside the bows and rocks that made up their ranged weaponry, exchanging them for dirty short swords and cudgels. They charged towards the members of the subjugation squad.

"Shit!!!"

The scene quickly morphed into a brutal hand-to-hand battle between the subjugation squad and the goblins. Being professionals when it came to battle, they cut down one goblin after the other.

But despite that, the goblins held an overwhelming advantage in numbers. Severely outnumbered by the surrounding forces, the kingdom knights and grey guild members were singled out from the party, only to be butchered with excessive force.

"Isn't there a way… to land at least one hit on them…?!"

The man in charge of the subjugation squad gritted his teeth in frustration. As this went on, Kühling could be seen breaking out into light laughter as the blood of the subjugation squad was spilled, and even as her supposed goblin allies dropped to the ground, dead.

A total massacre would be inevitable at this rate. If that really was the case, then he wanted to at least get one hit in.

"Huh…?!"

With that powerful desire in mind, the man spotted Krankheit, who had somehow become involved in this giant free-for-all battle. The drilled locks of her silver hair fluttered about as she stood there, unmoving.

Just why had she jumped into the middle of a melee battle? Why in the world did none of the other members seem to notice her presence?

The man was drowning in questions, but he was confident that he could manage to attack someone standing right in front of him. He concluded that the people behind him were simply in some kind of frenzied haze, a result of their battle against the goblins.

This was his chance… With this, he might just be able to completely turn the tables on this one-sided slaughter.

If one of her allies was defeated, the red-haired woman could fall into turmoil and allow many others to escape her. While in truth Kühling wouldn't bat an eye if Krankheit met her death, the man, having no way of knowing this, decided to bet everything on that single hope.

"Hoooooooh!"

Cutting down a cudgel-swinging goblin with a single stroke of his sword, he propelled himself off the earth with all his strength and moved towards Krankheit.

"Wha-?!"

Krankheit gave the impression that she could hardly believe that the man was charging toward her. Her eyes wide, she looked at the man raising his blade, who rushed in while being prepared for death.

"W-Wait! What are you…?!"

"Dieeeee!!!"

Words would no longer reach him. While members of grey guilds showed inhibition when it came to raising their hand, they weren't naive enough to heed the words of an enemy. A dirty blade soaked in goblin blood reached to cut Krankheit from behind.

"Ah…?!"

Her mouth spewing blood, Krankheit screamed. She fell to the earth, her movements soon ceasing.

"Haah… Haah…!"

The man tried to keep his ragged breathing in check. His heart almost bursting out of his chest with excitement, he found that his breaths could not be restrained.

One of the enemies that had ridiculed them from since the beginning had finally been defeated. With her friend dead, the red-headed woman should be affected somehow. Expectations high, he turned to Kühling as she pretended to take in the sight of the skies above…

"W-Why…?"

"Nice slash! Good for you, taking someone down with just one!"

The man didn't look at Kühling, but rather at the woman standing next to her with a stare that spelled out his astonishment. Standing there was the same Krankheit that lay on the ground, cut down by his own weapon. That meant that the one he had just slashed had to be…

"Y-You…!"

The one the man had slain was an ally, a member of the same grey guild. While the man was now dead and therefore incapable of holding grudges, his confused questions remained etched into his face even in death.

"Why…?! I know I attacked the silver girl…!"

"Oh no, you were most definitely attacking that man from the start. I was wondering why, myself."

The man felt as if he had fallen into the depths of a nightmare. He could feel his consciousness growing distant…

Taking in the man's current state, Krankheit took to laughing alongside Kühling…

…Admittedly, she did sound a little awkward.

"Gyaaah?! Krankheit! You're tricking my goblins too, aren't you?! Turn them back already!"

"I'd like to enchant the Master with that magic…"

"Listen, would you?!"

Kühling was being chased around by one of her own goblins. Despite the overwhelmingly large breasts that were now swinging about, Krankheit, in the midst of a mind-trip with the Master as the lead, didn't even bother to grind her teeth with envy.

Enchanting the Master and making him indulge in her own body… Just entertaining that thought was enough to set her body on fire.

With tittering, giddy laughter, Krankheit stood there with a grin that bordered on dangerous. Oh, and on that note, the subjugation squad would be eradicated soon afterward.

Not entirely sure about this name, since author likes using German names, I tried making it look German.