Taurus’s relationship with Lufas was second in length only to Aries among the Twelve Stars. He was the second monster Lufas had ever captured. The difference between him and Aigokeros or Parthenos was that Lufas had yet to become the absolute pillar of strength that she was now when Taurus had been captured. Aigokeros and the others had met Lufas and bent their knee in the face of her power. Taurus had been her servant from the beginning. When he had met Lufas, she hadn’t quite been the monster she was now, so the relationship between him and Lufas was less that of a master and servant and more like comrades in arms who walked the same path. That was why his belief in Lufas was so strong, and why he alone among the Twelve Heavenly Stars was treated like a friend instead of a subordinate.

  That fact also made Scorpius jealous enough to want to kill. It had always been that way. Lufas had sent the Twelve Stars forward to defeat her enemies countless times, but the one she always had standing behind her was Taurus.

  “O-Oh, that reminds me. You couldn’t destroy the Goddess’s power two hundred years ago, could you? How did you learn to do that?”

  Aries noticed Scorpius’s irritation growing at an increasing rate, so he hurriedly stepped in to sidetrack the conversation. Taurus looked down at the sheep, who was trying to smooth over the situation admirably, and decided to play along with what he was doing. Taurus didn’t especially care about Scorpius’s mood, but he respected Aries enough to change the subject.

  “You ask me how...but it is not something I can explain. None of you can explain how your skills work either, can you? I just wished to be able to do it... Two hundred years ago, I was unable to destroy her power, and it led to that result. I then desired to destroy something even as absolute as the Goddess’s power so that would not happen again, and I started putting effort into polishing myself. That is all.”

  “Um... Do skills really evolve like that?”

  “No idea. I do not know about anything difficult like that. The one hiding over there should be more knowledgeable about it than me, no?”

  “Huh?”

  When Taurus finished speaking, he clenched his fist, once again making a creaking sound. Then, he unleashed his destructive skill Aldebaran for a second time. His fist traveled fruitlessly through empty air, but it still sounded as if it had destroyed something.

  What had been destroyed was space itself. Empty space crumbled, dropping Dina out of thin air, making her fall to the ground.

  “Wagyaaahhh?!”

  “So you really were there. I thought it odd that I felt two sources of the Goddess’s power... It seems quite the strange one has joined you all.”

  He stood in front of Dina, whose eyes had gone wide thanks to being suddenly pulled out of thin air, and looked down at her, displaying his steel will before the self-proclaimed advisor.

  Dina finally caught on to the situation, and she stiffened, looking up at Taurus. She tried to hurriedly manipulate his state of mind, but it had no effect. It was as if she were face-to-face with a golem; he didn’t waver, not even a little. Even though the stupid dog had come over and started messing around at his feet, he didn’t move.

  “It is no use. Your tricks will not work on me... There is only one person in this world who can move my heart. So speak truthfully—who are you?”

  Dina stared, silent. Huh? Am I...really in trouble? Like, incredible, unprecedented trouble? Dina thought as she broke out in cold sweat. Her face twitched, but a single expression was frozen in place as she looked up at Taurus dazedly.

  20

  After the fight with Benetnasch, I finally arrived at Tyrving, still feeling down. For some reason, though, no one was there. Actually, there were demihumans present but not the Twelve Stars, whom I was looking for.

  There were signs of destruction everywhere, as well as signs of fighting, but the combatants themselves were nowhere to be found. I was sure they had all been here at one time, but at some point, they’d probably moved the battle somewhere else. With the forces arrayed against Leon, I’d thought there was no way he could win—or at least I’d like to think so—but I couldn’t be sure. I wanted to regroup with the Twelve Heavenly Stars as fast as possible.

  I was wandering around the destruction, hoping to find some sort of clue as to where they’d gone, when I found some words written on a crumbled wall.

  “We are all fighting in the demihuman village.”

  It was a short, concise message. A map had been drawn beneath it, easily conveying where I was and where I needed to go. It had probably been left by Dina. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

  They weren’t that far away. I’d probably be able to get there in a flash.

  I spread my wings and finalized my direction before crouching down for a moment. Then I jumped, using that momentum to take flight. When I jumped, I left a huge crater... Sorry, nearby residents. In this body I ended up breaking things when I got even a little serious. Forgive me.

  The scenery flew past me at high speeds, and I was unable to hear. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with my ears but sound could no longer keep up with me. After flying for a little while, I saw what seemed like a forest below me and descended sharply before landing.

  As for how much time that’d taken... Well, it couldn’t have been more than five seconds.

  The difference between the time I experienced and normal time was pretty big, so sometimes even I had difficulty telling how many minutes had passed in a given time frame. Now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure it’d only taken a couple minutes to get from Laevateinn to Maphaahl Tower. But had it really been a couple minutes? It might have been only a couple seconds in real time.

  I looked around where I landed, and for some reason, I saw Dina on the ground and a masked man standing over her.

  He’s...

  Ah, right... He’s Tauros. ...Wait, maybe it was Taurus? Which was it?

  Unlike before, I could now remember people from my past just by looking at their face for a little while (though I couldn’t exactly see his face because of the mask). I wasn’t sure whether I should have been happy about that or not, though. I’d been told by Parthenos that the Ox was maintaining the seal in Helheim, so why was he here? And cornering Dina on top of that?

  At any rate, the situation seemed dangerous. I should probably stop Tauros.

  Everyone in the area noticed my arrival and was looking my way. This included Tauros, who’d fixed me with a silent stare.

  “Lufas, I see.”

  He used no title or show of respect when using my name. I see. It seems as if he doesn’t worship me nearly as much as the others. Still, this nostalgia’s weirdly strong.

  If I were to separate the Twelve Stars into groups, I’d put Scorpius and Aigokeros into the fanatics group; Aries, Virgo, Parthenos and Libra into the normal group; Dina and Karkinos in the weirdo group; and I suppose Leon and the one in front of me would be in the rebellious group. There was no doubt that, as a whole, they were a bunch of weirdos, though. Lufas sure did gather a bunch of different types.

  “Tauros, We see. It’s been a while.”

  “Yeah...” he said. “It has. It truly has. And my name is Taurus.”

  Ah, Taurus was the correct one. Man this guy’s name is hard. But I think I remember Parthenos calling him Tauros too. It sounds like I’m not the only one who misremembers his name. Still, this is hard... The convo just stops.

  Taurus’s reply ended the conversation. It was dead silent after that.

  Uh, yeah. This is a new pattern. I’m surprised it hasn’t come up before.

  Whether it was good or bad, Aries and Aigokeros had both had a reaction to meeting me. Libra had been no exception to that either, and at the very least, we’d had no problems conversing. Yet Taurus hadn’t reacted at all. He’d just noted that it’d been a while and stopped speaking. At any rate, he doesn’t seem to see me as an enemy at least. I suppose I should hurry up and save Dina.

  “Yes, first thing’s first. Don’t bully her too much. She may be new, but she’s quite useful.”

  “...”

  Huh? What happened to her being my advisor from two hundred years ago? Well, whatever, I guess. Let’s just have that be over. Everyone knows it’s a lie anyway.

  I couldn’t read Taurus’s expression through his mask, and a creepy silence took over.

  Hmm... He’s hard to deal with but in a different way from Scorpius. How should I put it? It was like he was constantly trying to put out an aura of pressure. Pressure is one of my skills, though, not his.

  Taurus was quiet, then said, “If you say so, I do not mind letting this go. If you yourself are saying it, that is.”

  I eyed him silently. “What does that mean?”

  “That is anyone’s guess. In truth, it is not something I can judge myself. I do feel it’s strange, but you are the one who predicted a situation like this in the first place, which means your current state might be your own will as well... And if that is the case, then I have no objections.”

  I was stunned. He... Did he see through me immediately? Does he know that I’m someone else who was shoved inside of Lufas? That’s why he said that he has no intention of asking if what I said is the will of the real Lufas, right?

  But I’d faintly noticed that Lufas herself had once predicted that I’d be in here too. Not to mention that fight with Benetnasch. That means he’s trying to get the measure of me. He’s trying to figure out if this is Lufas’s will coming through my own or something else.

  Taurus paused. “Well, no matter... It seems you have your own situation to deal with. If that is the case, deal with your own matters first. I will always be in Helheim...waiting for your arrival.”

  Apparently he was going to obey me and leave Dina alone in this instance.

  As soon as Taurus stepped away Dina crawled over to me and quickly took refuge behind me. Huh. It’s rare for her to be so obviously bad at dealing with someone. Oh, I should check Taurus’s stats first.

  【Twelve Heavenly Stars: Taurus】

  【Level】: 800

  【Race】: Minotaur

  【Attribute】: Earth

  【HP】: 230000

  【SP】: 2000

  【STR (Strength)】: 50000

  【DEX (Dexterity)】: 3695

  【VIT (Vitality)】: 500

  【INT (Intelligence)】: 100

  【AGI (Agility)】: 100

  【MND (Mind)】: 500

  【LUK (Luck)】: 10

  【Equipment】:

  ・Head: Mask of the King of Minos (no effect)

  ・Right arm: Heretic Slayer’s Ax (doubles STR, Defense counts as 0 when receiving damage from enemies)

  ・Left arm: —

  ・Body: Helheim Coat (HP regeneration in areas with mana)

  ・Legs: Bovine Boots (Enemy accuracy against wearer 100%, accuracy when attacking is doubled)

  ・Other: —

  Is he an idiot? I almost voiced reflexively, barely managing to swallow the words out of desperation.

  When I saw his stats, I realized that he was specialized for attack and HP. This meant he was the type to tank using his HP pool and just punch things out. As far as the system of this world was concerned, you could withstand any attack as long as you had a high enough HP pool, which meant Taurus could tank at least two attacks from literally anybody.

  Well, it’d be really hard to produce max damage in the first place unless the opponent was at least somewhat overpowered, so although his defenses were minimal, he could tank unexpectedly well. That in itself was fine. The problem was that his stats had somehow gotten even dumber compared to what I remembered. In the game, he’d had no equipment, and his attack power had been 25000. But now, his stats had gone in a weird direction due to some strange equipment in the mix.

  This is why you don’t give monsters equips. It ruins game balance.

  Well, anyway. Almost no one’ll be able to take Taurus’s HP down all the way with stats that insanely specialized. Instead, he’ll probably be the one knocking them out. But, I guess this is the trade-off for specialized types? I can clearly tell what he’s good and bad against.

  For example, Taurus wouldn’t be able to touch Benetnasch, even with her level limited to 1000. She’d run circles around him and beat him up at her leisure. It was unfortunate, but Benetnasch would tear slowpokes like him to pieces with thousands of hits, and she’d be absolutely untouched.

  Actually, I think he’d rank pretty low amongst the Twelve Stars if they were to have a one-on-one tournament. He’d get downed before even managing to make his first move. I doubt he’d be able to take down Aries, let alone Libra, especially since his high HP pool was a terrible matchup against Aries’s skills.

  That was only true as long as Taurus was alone, though. By cooperating with even just one more person, he would quickly become too much to handle. For example, if he were to attack while Aries or Aigokeros had the opponent pinned down, Taurus’s stats would produce a huge swing in his favor, not to mention if Karkinos were to use his skill to allow Taurus to ignore the damage limit. Even as a wild monster, Taurus had been an attack specialist, but I leaned into it even more after capturing and training him because I’d thought that was fun. Obviously he boasted enormous damage potential; in terms of single-hit damage, he even outstripped Leon.

  Unfortunately, his stats meant using him necessitated cooperation. In the game, I’d filled that role by stopping the enemy so he could hit them. His true worth wasn’t in attack power but a unique skill that was so powerful it screamed foul play... But that can be explained another time.

  Taurus walked away. After seeing him off, I turned my attention to Aries and the others. The first thing I noticed was that Aries was looking...not safe for work. His clothes were all ripped, and he was basically half naked. There was some cloth left, and he was a guy, so there might not have been much reason to care. But some people, starting with the boy Sei, didn’t seem to know where to look, so they just looked away.

  Oh, right. I never told them that Aries is a man. Anyway, I can’t just leave him like this. Even if they know he’s a man, there might be someone who’ll still try something.

  I snapped my fingers and repaired Aries’s clothes using alchemy. Let’s make him something with tougher materials that’s harder to rip this time... Ah, right. This guy’s wool is the best material for cloth.

  “So, Dina. When are you planning to stop clinging to our back?”

  “B-But...! He was really scary, you know?! What the hell?! Why did he break open space with just a punch?!” Dina cried out with tear-filled eyes, having a rare breakdown.

  Apparently, the situation just now had been quite dangerous. I’d thought her aloof and impossible to read, but it seemed that even she had her natural enemies.

  “Now then... First, We’d like to hear about this situation. Would someone explain what happened?”

  “Understood. Then I will start with when we reached Tyrving,” Libra said, quickly responding to my request.

  According to her, they’d immediately commenced battle when they’d reached Tyrving, managing to defeat Leon once. But as was becoming familiar, he had received the Goddess’s blessing and powered up. He’d turned the fight around after that, and next, they’d been the ones in a pinch.

  “The Goddess again? She sure sticks to a template.”

  “Stories are like that. Things such as suddenly getting stronger due to anger, or receiving a huge power-up by unlocking latent talents and abilities, or the bonds of your comrades, or saying that you’ll protect everyone and then suddenly being able to fight evenly before overtaking the villain... All of that is just assistance given to the protagonist by the author, or god, to make them win. That is the easiest and simplest way to intervene for gods. Protagonists are just their puppets.”

  “Well, that’s...inevitable, isn’t it? If that didn’t happen, then the villain would win.”

  “Yes, that is true. And the Goddess is doing all this because she doesn’t want the villain named Lufas to win.”

  Now that Taurus had gone, Dina had regained her confidence and returned my sarcasm with even more sarcasm. But she was still clinging to my back, so it seemed as if she had yet to fully recover from the shock of meeting Taurus.

  “Lady Lufas a villain?! Preposterous! Lady Lufas is justice itself! She is this world’s one and only law!”

  “Hear, hear!”

  “Would you all just be quiet for a while? You are making things more complicated.”

  I had Aigokeros and Scorpius, who was fully indulging her delusions, quiet down. The two of them seemed to have experienced some sort of shock, as they slumped to the ground where they’d stood with the appropriate expressions.

  They’re making such a big deal out of it...

  “Sorry, We got derailed. Please continue.”

  “I suppose I should say ‘serves you right, Scorpion’ here?”

  “That’s unnecessary,” I said, lightly scolding Libra.

  Seamlessly and with no change in expression, Libra went to kick Scorpius as she was down before continuing, “Serves you right, Scorpion.”

  Geez. Why does this group have no coherence at all? I said you didn’t have to...

  21

  “That comprises everything that has happened.”

  “Hmm.”

  The biggest thing I learned after hearing Libra’s summary was that I was completely late. Everything—the fight, the problem with Sagittarius, all of it—had been settled before I had arrived like a clueless fool.

  Well... I understood why I was late... It was because I’d insisted on sightseeing in Benetnasch’s capital; I’d watched the monsters battle, and I’d gambled and stuff. The fight with Benetnasch probably hadn’t lasted that long, honestly. It actually had lasted a while from my point of view, but I was sure it’d only been a moment in objective time.

  I burst into a cold sweat while making sure to maintain outward calm. “We seem to have forced you all into a difficult situation. You’ve done well wearing Leon down.”

  “H A H A H A. Awww, it’s no problem at all, since you’re the one who ordered it, Miss Lufas.”

 

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