The Ladykiller

Ria wasn't thinking about how to win.

She knew she was going to win. Her goal was to inflict as humiliating a defeat as possible.

Indeed, since coming to this world and becoming royalty, she had deliberately been suppressing this side of herself.

Ria was a sadist.

She dodged each sword flash, or deflected it.

These exchanges continued for several minutes.

By now, Shizuna no longer thought of the girl before her as a delicate young lady matching her appearance.

Despite having been seen that way herself until now, why hadn't she considered that others like her existed?

Even the surrounding spectators had noticed that while Shizuna was attacking one-sidedly, Ria hadn't sustained so much as a scratch.

There were too many eyes watching.

If this had been a one-on-one duel in the wilderness, she could have accepted a draw as a reasonable outcome.

But with this many people watching, she who had introduced herself with her nickname couldn't afford to look pathetic.

That was one factor, her pride and vanity.

The other was her trump card, her magic sword.

"Warp."

With that word, the sword split apart.

"Ah, that's a Garian Sword!"

Serge, who had been watching, shouted in an exaggerated manner.

"You know what it is!? Serge!"

Carlos asked in a voice of genuine admiration.

"It's a weapon that can be either a sword or a bladed whip, making it difficult to handle. But since it's a magical weapon, it probably moves smoothly when controlled by the user's magical power."

"A segmented blade sword. Certainly, without magical power to control it, it would be quite unwieldy."

Lulu's retort was remarkably calm.

Shizuna moved out of sword range, and the bladed whip attacked Ria from all directions.

But Ria's impression could be summed up in one word.

"Ridiculous."

She struck the blade segment closest to the base hard. With a blade loaded with plenty of magical power.

Then, interfering with the magical power controlling the whip, a gap opened up between the blades attacking Ria.

Combining evasion, martial arts, and footwork skills with her physical flexibility made dodging easy.

The bladed whip returned to its original longsword form. Ria deliberately shrugged her shoulders.

Normally, she wouldn't do something like this. When it was time to kill, she killed immediately. She didn't toy with opponents unnecessarily. That was the kind of person Ria was.

But when her opponent was a beautiful woman or a beautiful girl, that was a different story entirely.

Strong-willed beautiful girls and tsundere beauties were, in essence, Ria's type.

And Ria had the bad habit of teasing the ones she liked.

"What's wrong? Is that all you've got?"

The reason she gave such a cheap provocation was that it seemed like Shizuna was still hiding something up her sleeve. There was also Serge's advice to consider.

True to her expectation, although Shizuna's face twisted, a smile rose to her lips.

"I never expected to be forced to use my trump card so easily."

She raised her sword. Clearly tempering her magical power.

Then she spoke a word of power.

"Blaze!"

The red glow of the sword intensified, producing flames.

Through Serge's Identify, the magic sword's name had been revealed as the 'Flame Snake Sword'.

It was a high-performance magic sword that emitted flames, dealt additional heat damage to those it cut while making healing difficult, and moved like a snake.

However, there was a catch.

Ria had the Gift of Heat Resistance. Moreover, through frequently using fire magic during their journey, its level had increased. In skill terms, it was around level nine.

Even Lulu's strongest fire magic wouldn't give her so much as a burn. That was how powerful the ability was. The flames of a magic sword should have no effect on Ria.

Of course, the leather armor and clothes Ria wore didn't benefit from the Gift's protection.

"Warp."

The flaming whip attacked Ria exactly like a snake. In response, Ria sheathed her katana for the time being.

If the flame's heat damaged her katana somehow, that would be unpleasant.

Ria grabbed the whip's tip as it approached her body with her bare hands.

This was possible thanks to Heat Resistance combined with the Strong Body skill. Furthermore, speaking in terms of status, her extremely high stamina was also a factor.

Her gauntlets heated up, but these had been processed in Shashmeer and were made from Hydra hide. Heat at the level of a Fireball posed no problems.

Grabbing the whip, she reeled in the blade segments one by one. With each shortened distance, shock and terror appeared on Shizuna's face.

That's nice, that expression.

Ria was smiling again.

The two were close enough to reach out and touch. Shizuna tried desperately to pull her sword back, but it was impossible against Ria's strength.

"Now then, what will you do?"

Ria asked in a tone as if she wanted to hum a tune. Shizuna muttered in a hoarse voice, "Monster…"

"How rude. You're just too weak."

Those words reignited the dying embers of Shizuna's fighting spirit.

Her supple leg's kick struck Ria's torso directly.

Ria deliberately neither evaded nor defended.

No matter what she did, it was useless, crushing her confidence completely. It was fine to hurt her enough not to leave marks.

After showing severity, then just a hint of kindness, this type of woman would fall. That was Ria's rule of thumb from her previous life.

"If that's all, it's my turn now."

After letting Shizuna kick her twice more, Ria finally went on the offensive.

It took just one strike.

Slipping into her opponent's guard, she placed her shoulder against Shizuna's solar plexus. Then, from there, a stamping step.

Together with the sound of striking the earth, Shizuna's body went flying with a pop. She fell into the crowd.

She had held back considerably, but she also needed to deal moderate damage, making the adjustment difficult.

It was a classical martial arts technique, different from armor-piercing strikes.

As Ria approached, the crowd quickly parted before her. At its center, Shizuna, who had been knocked onto her back, was desperately trying to get up, but the damage she had been dealt was apparently just right, and sitting up was all she could manage.

As Ria approached with a smile, pondering how to deal with her next, this time Shizuna clearly showed an expression of fear.

But then an interruption appeared.

"Would you please let her off with that?"

Parting the crowd, a huge man emerged.

He was tall. And he was thick, both sideways and front-to-back. His physique was similar to Gig's.

But he had neither the fangs nor horns of an Ogre. He was definitely human.

"D-Dad…"

Shizuna groaned. They didn't look alike at all, but this man appeared to be Shizuna's father. Certainly, they did share the red hair.

"It's Vargas…"

"It's Vargas of the 'Thunderclap'…"

The surrounding spectators were buzzing. It seemed he was quite the celebrity.

Without being distracted by the commotion, Ria observed Vargas.

Despite his massive frame, there was nothing sluggish about his footwork.

"Nee-cha～n. Be careful, that guy's pretty strong."

Serge's leisurely warning reached her. In other words, even he was still weaker than Ria.

"So, after the daughter, will the father take me on?"

She tried a cheap provocation. Honestly, she did want to fight him a little.

But Vargas shook his head.

"I have no intention of fighting a battle I know I'll lose."

At these words, the surrounding spectators stirred.

"Hey, Vargas just…"

"Thunderclap admitted defeat…"

"Just how strong is that girl…"

Ria felt let down, but the fact that he could clearly gauge the difference in ability meant he had sharp combat instincts.

Regardless of whether it would develop into a fight to the death, she'd like to face him at least once.

"Then, our duel ends here? Now, how shall we settle this?"

Ria looked at the magic sword in her hand. It had quite impressive performance. If it weren't Ria, it would have been a tough fight. Carlos or Gig would have lost.

"For now, I'll hold onto this sword for a while. Relying on it too much will prevent your fundamental skills from improving."

"What!?"

Shizuna let out a cry, but given the sword's value, that was a natural reaction. Vargas remained silent, perhaps in agreement.

"I'll return it once you've raised your Swordsmanship skill another level. Also…"

Approaching, Ria grabbed Shizuna's shoulders and stood her up. Her legs trembled like a newborn fawn's.

"Wh-What are you…"

Shizuna's frightened lips were blocked by other lips.

With the tip of her tongue, Ria licked those lips. It was just a momentary contact.

When she let go, Shizuna plopped back down on the ground. A cheer different from before rose from the surroundings.

"Yuri has arrived!"

Serge shouted with an intensity that seemed like he might get a nosebleed.

"Wha-, wha-, wha-"

Shizuna opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. Seeing the expected reaction, Ria was quite aroused.

"Compared to losing your life, it's nothing much."

Vargas wore an extremely complicated expression, but said nothing.

"You, are you into that!?"

Shizuna shouted with teary eyes. Ria understood the feeling. If a man stole a kiss from her, she'd want to cry too.

But the fact that she found that crying face cute was precisely what made a sadist a sadist.

"I have no interest in men. I like strong-willed girls like you. If you want revenge, come at me anytime, but if I win, I'll make you do something even more amazing."

Ria smiled wickedly. Vargas's face grew even more intensely complicated.

"Y-You idiot—! Stupid—! Die—!"

Receiving Shizuna's regressed-to-infancy insults at her back, Ria passed through the guild's doors.

"So cool…" "Dreamy…"

Such voices rose from among the female spectators, though admittedly few in number.

"To do that to Shizuna so easily…" "A ladykiller…" "… Yeah, a ladykiller."

Ria the 'Ladykiller'.

That was the moment in Jaeburg when Ria received her nickname.