Translator: Haruto.

This is a mass release (Ch19-24).

Here’s chapter 19.

After what happened, I was taken in by my grandparents and forced to forget my past.

I tried to rebel.

I didn’t want to lose my memories of Shuu-kun.

However, at the end of the day, I was nothing more than a child.

My complaints were easily dismissed.

Eventually, I stopped rebelling.

I stopped caring about everyone and everything.

I decided to just grow strong by myself.

Until I met him…

Kusanagi Hayato. A very peculiar person.

Never caring about how cold I am toward him, he keeps trying to talk with me.

And for some reason, he always knows the right thing to say, as though he can predict the future.

He can also use a divine arms even though he isn’t a member of the Purging Mask.

And he’s really strong.

He’s helped me countless times now.

For some reason, he reminds me of Shuu-kun.

He resembles him so…

He has a childhood friend.

Yumeno Hina, the first and strongest shrine maiden.  

She’s cheerful and cute.

Her brown hair is a little curved, her eyes are round and big, and her face’s small. Her skin is also really pretty.

On the other side of the coin, my eyes are sharp and my skin is kind of pale. I must look like I’m always sick or something…

It’s hard to believe we come from the same world.

Also, it’s obvious she’s in love with him.

The tournament that’ll decide who’ll be my betrothed is about to take place. This is one of my duties as a shrine maiden.

To be honest, I wanted to marry Shuu-kun…

As soon as that thought crosses my mind, I do my best to drive it away.

And yet, the tears that I had tried to keep locked up in my heart begin to roll down my cheeks.

The tournament begins.

I’m told to dress up and sit in a chair specially reserved for me.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!! The day has finally arrived!! Fighters from all around the country have gathered here to prove their worth! And to you, my good men, I say: Fight!! Fight and win!! Let’s see who’ll become the shrine maiden’s fiancé!!”          

“Ooooohhhhhhh!!”

Cheers are heard all over the arena.

I can’t understand what’s so exciting about turning me into a trophy.

“Now then, the participants will be divided into four groups: A, B, C, and D. Whoever comes on top in each group will get to fight in the finals against the other three winners. And from those four participants, the true victor shall emerge!”

The man presiding over the ceremony keeps talking for a while.

The members of each group are chosen and then there’s an intermission.

To my surprise, it seems he’ll really participate in the tournament after all.

He’s already engaged to Yumeno-san so I thought he wouldn’t come.

I know he said he just had to because he considered me a good friend, but still…

For some reason, I feel a bit of warmth in my heart, followed by pain.

“Well, without further ado, let the first match begin! From Group A! Hayato VS. Gouki the Brute!!”

The bell rings, indicating the start of the match.

“Hahaha! How unlucky of you to have me as your first opponent, brat! You should just withdraw now that you have the chance!”

“Never! I’ll save Amane-chan!”

Their divine arms clash.

His opponent is quite strong, but not as strong as him.  

He cut his opponent down in the blink of an eye.

“Ahaha! I won, Amane-chan!!”

He waves at me.

I wave back.

Bang!!

“Uh-oh! It’s time to introduce our next participants from Group D!! In one corner, we have Soniki the Swift, and in the other corner, we have the Piggy Duke! Begin!! Hmm? Wait, what in the world…?! The Piggy Duke has overwhelmed his opponent in a split second without even taking out his divine arms?! How strong!!”

Piggy… Duke? I feel something in my chest.

I’ve heard that title before…

But for the life of me, I cannot remember.

I try not to worry about it, and just cheer for Hayato-kun.

He keeps winning every match.

Until at last, the final is here.

“What an interesting match this will be! First, we have our young star, Hayato! He’s already crushed countless opponents with that greatsword of his! Will he be able to cut his way through to reach the podium?! Next, we have the Piggy Duke! He’s overwhelmed all his opponents without the use of his divine arms! He truly possesses the kind of power and finesse a duke should have!!”

“Let the battle… begin!!”

The bell rings.  

“Sorry, Piggy Duke, but I’m winning this one.”

“…”

The Piggy Duke extends his hands forward and summons his divine arms.

I’m too far away to see their design but those are… Dual Blades…

“…Uh!”

Memories come rushing back to me. They are the same type of divine arms Shuu-kun had…

A slash spreads from the two blades… which is both fast and strong.  

I feel like the Piggy Duke’s style resembles Shuu-kun’s…  

But no! Stop it…! Shuu-kun’s dead! It’s not him!

I keep watching the match while trying my best to drive away all these thoughts…

***

I’m fighting the protagonist.

I can’t help but feel like something’s off.

It’s too soon for him to be this strong, to have this kind of skill.

It’s as if a player would have taken all the right choices since the start of the game in order to gain strength.

The skills he’s using on me right now are the set of moves that can earn you certain victory when wielding a greatsword.

It honestly feels like I’m facing a player who’s mastered the game’s combo attacks.

“Hey, what happened to all the power you were showing off earlier?! You got scared because of how strong I am or something, Piggy Duke?”

“…”

I remain silent.

“Ahaha! You’re ignoring me, huh? Fine, perhaps this will pique your interest: I’ve reincarnated into this game as the story’s protagonist!! While you’re now nothing more than a NPC, I’m the freaking main character!!”

“The hell are you talking about?”

And so, the mystery is solved.

If what this moron’s saying is true, it makes sense why he’s so strong so early in the story.

“Come on, it’s obvious you know what I’m talking about. I mean, the last boss of this event was supposed to be some other dude. The moment I heard it was going to be the Piggy Duke, I knew something was wrong. But sorry, dude, you’ve gotten the short end of the stick with those dual blades. I’d be bawling my eyes out if I were you!”

“…”

The best thing to do against idiots like him is to stay quiet.

“You’re still not saying anything? Oh well, who cares? As long as I win against you and have my way with Amane…. Hm? Hold on, are you perhaps in love with Amane? You’ve got quite a scary look in your eyes. Sorry kiddo, but you’d better forget about her! Remember, I’m the MC and you’re just some NPC! I don’t know what those dual blades of yours can do but you’ve got no chance against me!”

What did he just say…? Have his way with whom? With Amane…?

“I can’t wait to transform that composed expression on her face into one of ecstasy! I’ll fuck her until she’s unable to live without me! But wait, I’ve got an idea! How about I give her to you once I’m done with her?”

“What?”

I had planned to go easy on him, but that’s in the past.

Have his way with her, he says?

Give her to me after he’s done with her?

Fuck you.

“Amane is not an object.”

“Wait, hold on a sec. You’re not going to tell me you think of the characters of this world as people, are you? Is that it? Man, that’s just sad… Listen, these things are nothing more than tools for me to use! They should be proud to be used as my sex toys!”

“The Divine Dragon of Water’s Frenzy: 100%.”

Before I knew it, I was using the same dark life energy from last time.

My divine arms pulsate like never before, pouring life energy into me at every beat.

I use Acceleration and punch him in the face.

Before he reaches the end of the arena, I punch him from behind.

Then upwards. Now downwards.

“Ghaah!! You bastard! How dare you punch me?! Take this! Severing!”

Severing is a greatsword skill capable of cutting through everything.

Whatever.

I stop it with Circular Slash.

“What?! How! This can’t be happening!! You’re cheating!”

“Cheating? No, I just used a skill stronger than yours.”

“Y-You’re lying!! Severing is the rarest and strongest kind of skill!!”

“As far as regular divine arms go… But, mine are just in a different league than yours. And, why do you think that is…?”

This is a technique I learned from Hades while I was still in hell.

“Prayer.”

It’s a so-called Awakening Skill, that allows you to increase the power of your divine arms by turning the wielder’s skill and emotions into fuel.

It also improves your physical prowess and it bestows elements upon your divine arms.

In my case, whenever I feel animosity toward someone, my divine arms’ element becomes darkness, and whenever I want to protect someone, it becomes water and lightning.

In other words…

“I want to crush you, fucking asshole!”

It’s not like he’ll die from a little trashing.

“Wait, hold on! I’m the protagonist! The world will be destroyed without me!!”

“I don’t mind saving one or two worlds for the girl I love.”

“S-Stop!”

“Dual Blades Secret Skill—Shikiryuu Style—Dual Blades of Rainfall.”

Rain… Rain begins to fall…

Accompanied by a slash as vicious and powerful as a dragon… Both descend on the protagonist.  

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

First, hundreds of cuts appear all over his body, followed by a massive slash.

“Aaaaghh! It hurts!!!”

One of this skill’s bonuses is that the cuts it inflicts on the victim keep causing them pain—as strong as a dragon’s bite—for a long, long time.

“I’ll fucking kill you!!”

“Shut up, you moron.”

I blast the protagonist out of the arena.

“T-The winner is the Piggy Duke!!”

“Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!!!”

The audience erupts in cheers.

“As the victor, the Piggy Duke shall become the shrine maiden’s—Amane-sama’s betrothed!!”

“Amane-sama, please come here!!”

With a gloomy look on her face, Amane walks over to us.

It takes everything in me to hold myself back from running to her and hugging her.

I set up a barrier during the fight so that Amane couldn’t hear what we were saying, which means that she still doesn’t know who I am.

She must hate the idea of being engaged to a stranger like me…

Well, I am wearing a piggy mask, she hasn’t heard my voice and I’m using a technique that prevents recognition as well, so yeah, no wonder she’s got no idea.

…Why am I going through all that hassle?

Because I’ve got a thing for the dramatic!

My mask will break any time now, so I need to hurry.

“Now, as her betrothed, is there something you’d like to say?”

“Um, sure. Let’s see… ‘Hahaha, take a look at me… I’ve been despised and rejected by those around me for as long as I can remember. To be honest with you, I cared very little about my own fate… But you know, the desire to live has been reignited within me. I wish… I wish you could find it in you to give this poor fellow another chance…’  I’m in love with you.”

Amane looks up at me.

“From the moment I met you.”

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Cracks spread through my mask.

“I, Shimizu Shuu.”

My mask crumbles.

“S-Shuu-kun…?”

As though she can’t believe what she’s seeing, she stares intently at me.

“It can’t be. You died back then… because of me…”

“I’m alive.”

“I-Is it really you? This isn’t a dream?”

Amane walks slowly toward me and touches me.

“It’s no dream. The real Shimizu Shuu who’s crazy about you is right here.”

“A-Aah… Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!! It’s really you! My beloved… Shuu-kun is aliveeeeeeee!”

Amane cries at the top of her voice.     

I gently wrap my arms around her.

Having been away from her for almost 15 years, it’s unbelievable how soft and delicate she feels in my arms. It’s like she could break if I’m not careful. Although, her figure has matured in the time I’ve been gone.

Basically, she’s the best!!  

I’m so glad I also got taller while I was asleep. I’d have been in real trouble if I had stayed that small…

I keep holding her in my arms until she stops crying.

I’ll make her happy.

I’ll even save the world if I have to.

“Amane, would you marry me?”

Tears well up in her eyes, a wide smile appears on her face, and…  

“Yes!”

Author’s note:

And with that, the first volume is over!

The story will of course continue but I thought this would be a good place to end the volume.   

In the second volume, we’ll get to see them enjoying their lovey-dovey school life, and we’ll also find out more about the other shrine maidens.

I hope you look forward to it!

Yours truly,

The Author

Translator’s note:

After three months, the translation of the first volume is finally complete. I was honestly expecting it to take a few more weeks but once I started working on chapter 19 last night, I just couldn’t stop until the whole volume was done.

Thank you for reading, and see you in the next volume.

Haruto.

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