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Chapter 78: The Eve of the Decisive Battle
The next day. It was finally time to head to the Ruins of Shreme Castle.
"Bell, Tsunayoshi. Do your best. I'll be cheering you on."
"Yes."
"Yeah."
Bell and Tsuna stood before the city gates, being seen off by Hestia and Reborn.
They were going to take a carriage to the ruins. Welf and the others had already gone ahead and were waiting for them there.
Since this battle would be broadcast live via Divine Mirrors set up all across Orario, Hestia and the others would be able to watch the War Game unfold.
"Fight with your Dying Will, Bell. If you lose, I'll kill you myself."
"Hieee!?"
"Can't you just give him a normal send-off for once!?"
Reborn aimed his gun at Bell, his voice laced with a lethal threat. Bell shrieked. Hestia furiously chewed Reborn out for threatening Bell right before the biggest battle of his life.
Soon, it was time for the carriage to depart.
"Well, we're off."
With those words, Bell and Tsuna presented their travel permits to the gate guards and stepped outside the city walls.
.....
After a day of rocking in the carriage, night had fallen by the time Bell and Tsuna arrived near the Ruins of Shreme Castle. Welf, Mikoto, and their helper Ryuu were already waiting for them on standby.
The three had set up a small camp. Mikoto was doing some light training, Welf was maintaining his weapons, and Ryuu was standing quietly with her eyes closed.
"Yo. We've been waiting."
"Sir Sawada told us you were training outside the city."
"So, how are the results? Did you actually get stronger?"
"Yeah. I did, but..."
""?""
"Actually..."
Seeing Bell's hesitant expression, Welf and Mikoto tilted their heads in confusion. Gathering his resolve, Bell confessed the brutal truth of what his training had entailed.
"A-Are you serious!?"
"No matter how you look at it, that's impossible!!"
"It's not a lie. I saw it myself."
Hearing the details of Bell's training, Welf and Mikoto looked utterly bewildered. But when Tsuna confirmed it was the truth, and knowing neither Bell nor Tsuna were the type to lie about something like this, they had no choice but to believe it.
"Come to think of it, Tsuna mentioned you guys were training too, right?"
"Yeah. Thanks to that, I managed to bump my Status up a little."
"And I was able to fully acclimate to my Ranked Up vessel."
When Bell asked, both Welf and Mikoto answered with confidence regarding their own results.
"But our opponent is the Apollo Familia. We can't afford to let our guard down."
"If we want to win, we have to bet everything on Tsuna's plan. Whether it succeeds or not depends on Lilisuke... Is she going to be okay?"
"We won't know until tomorrow. Right now, all we can do is believe in Lili."
"Right... Yeah, you're right."
Though Lili was a member of their Familia, she wasn't present at the camp. Strangely, no one brought up why she was missing.
.....
Sometime later, Welf went back to maintaining Bell's weapons, and Mikoto resumed her drills.
"Ryuu."
"Mr. Sawada."
Tsuna approached Ryuu, who was still standing with her eyes closed. Hearing her name, she opened her eyes and turned to look at him.
"Thank you for really coming."
"Lord Hermes asked me to, but I also cannot forgive the Apollo Familia's methods."
"Thanks."
"Save your thanks until after we win this battle. Besides, the battle has already begun."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"It's not uncommon for factions to launch night raids to whittle down the enemy's fighting strength before a War Game. In fact, we were ambushed before you arrived."
"What!? Are you guys okay!?"
"There are no issues. We repelled them all."
As expected of a Level 4...
Even though she had retired, Tsuna was reminded once again that Ryuu was a Level 4 adventurer who had survived countless deadly battles.
"So you're keeping watch now?"
"Yes. I'm searching for presences to ensure no further attacks slip through."
"Want me to take over for a bit?"
"This much is no trouble at all. More importantly, you and Ms. Arde are the keys to winning against the Apollo Familia tomorrow. You need to be in perfect condition."
"Did they tell you about the plan?"
"Yes, from those two. It's quite the reckless strategy you've come up with, but against an opponent like this, we have to go to such lengths if we want to win. Above all else, it's meaningless unless Mr. Cranel executes it."
"I see. Sorry for not telling you about the plan myself."
"You made the right choice, even if it was just a result of circumstances. If you had discussed it at the pub, there was a very real possibility the plan could have leaked to the Apollo Familia through the customers."
"I guess you're right..."
"Speaking of the pub, it reminded me of something. Just who is that baby, Reborn, who was with you?"
"Eh...!?"
Ever since that incident, Ryuu had been curious about Reborn's true identity, but being on shift meant she hadn't had the chance to ask. Now that they had a moment of peace, she decided to probe.
"Those movements, the technique to accurately target a vital point. That isn't the skill of a normal person. Whether he's the world's strongest or not, I don't know, but I don't believe his claim of being a hitman was a lie either."
"W-Well, that's..."
"I highly doubt this is the case, but... is he from Evilus?"
"N-No! Ah... but I guess you're not entirely wrong about him being dangerous either..."
"What do you mean?"
"It's true that Reborn isn't normal... but he has absolutely nothing to do with Evilus, who killed your friends. I swear that on my life... Reborn is my home tutor."
"What!?"
Ryuu was completely taken aback. She had never expected Tsuna to be Reborn's student.
I thought he was awfully accustomed to combat... but even so...
Ryuu could accept why Tsuna, despite being Level 1, possessed such incredible battle instincts, but she also knew that alone couldn't fully explain his absurd strength.
"Who... Just who in the world are you people?"
"I'm sorry... I can't tell you."
"...I see."
"Are you sure? I might actually be from Evilus, you know?"
"It hasn't been long, but I know you aren't the type of person to tell a lie like that. Besides, I'm also in a position where I can't reveal my true identity to the public."
Ryuu was currently a wanted fugitive by the Guild. In terms of keeping secrets, she and Tsuna were in the same boat. It wasn't her place to pry any further.
"Now, the only question is whether Mr. Cranel can defeat their captain..."
"About that..."
"What!?"
When Tsuna elaborated on the details of Bell's training regimen, Ryuu's eyes went wide in disbelief.
"T-That's impossible!! Even if he's special, to achieve that much in such a short time...!?"
"Reborn trained him."
"He did...? But even so, for a mere seven days of training to yield such results...!?"
"Reborn can do it. But like I said before, his training is so hellish you literally feel like you're dying... Actually, it was so bad Bell has PTSD from it now..."
Thank goodness Syr isn't here...
Tsuna breathed a massive sigh of relief as Syr's face flashed across his mind.
The truth was, Syr had feelings for Bell. The fact that she constantly made him boxed lunches was proof enough. While she usually acted like the most demure and polite of the Hostess of Fertility waitresses, she was utterly terrifying when angered. Ryuu and the others had made a silent pact: whatever happens, absolutely never make Syr mad.
.....
After finishing his conversation with Ryuu, Tsuna walked over to Welf, who was busy maintaining weapons.
"You're really putting your back into it."
"Obviously. Look who we're up against. I forged some magic swords, too. We were short on time so I could only make two, but we have to play every card we have if we want to up our chances of winning."
"Eh... But didn't you vow never to make magic swords?"
"You heard from Tsubaki?"
"Yeah. Not the reason why, though... just that you have the power to make really strong ones..."
Tsuna was curious why Welf, who had sworn off making them, suddenly forged magic swords, but he politely refrained from pressing the issue.
"I hate magic swords."
"Eh?"
Sensing Tsuna's unspoken question, Welf began to explain.
"The magic swords I forge are called Crozzo's Magic Swords. They possess a destructive power several times greater than normal ones."
"Crozzo?"
"A fallen family of noble blacksmiths. It's my family name, too."
"Wait!? You're a noble!?"
"I've already cut ties with them. My ancestor, Crozzo the First, was gravely wounded while protecting a spirit from a monster a long time ago. The spirit saved his life by giving him its blood. As a side effect, he gained the ability to forge magic swords."
"A spirit..."
Hearing the word 'spirit,' Tsuna recalled the corrupted entity they had fought on the 59th floor. But listening to Welf's story, he realized not all spirits were evil like that one.
"Even though my family possessed the blood of the First, no one inherited the spirit's power for a long time. But several generations ago, when a Crozzo received a Falna, a skill to forge magic swords manifested. That triggered a chain reaction; other blood relatives received Falna and successfully mass-produced magic swords. They sold them to the kingdom, and the Crozzo family fell into depravity."
"Eh? Why?"
"The kingdom used the magic swords as tools of war. Thanks to the swords, the kingdom won every battle. Due to those achievements, the Crozzos gained noble status and started doing whatever they pleased. They completely forgot their pride as blacksmiths."
"They drowned in their power."
"Exactly. But the kingdom and the Crozzos paid the price for their arrogance."
"Price?"
"They used the magic swords to destroy the lands where the elves and spirits lived. Because of that, the elves held a deep grudge against the kingdom, and the spirits hated the Crozzos. In the end, we even lost the ability to make magic swords."
"Did the angry spirits take the power back?"
"Probably... After that, the Crozzos couldn't make magic swords anymore, and the kingdom, which had relied entirely on their power, suffered a crushing defeat in war. The kingdom pushed all the blame onto the Crozzos, and the family was ruined."
"But if the spirit took the power back, how come you can forge them?"
"Beats me. But once my family found out I had the talent for it, they demanded I make them. All to reclaim the lost glory of the Crozzo family."
"So they just wanted to use your power so they could do whatever they wanted again."
"Yeah, so I left the country and came to Orario. But even here, people only approached me because they knew I could forge Crozzo's Magic Swords."
"Tsubaki told me. A lot of adventurers die because they rely too much on magic swords."
"She's right. No matter how powerful a magic sword is, it'll eventually shatter if you keep using it. If you ask me, that ain't a weapon. A weapon is a wielder's other half. No matter what kind of hopeless situation you're in, your weapon must never betray you."
"That's why you hate them."
"...I hated them so much that I swore I would never forge one again, no matter what. Even when Lady Hephaestus told me to stop weighing my pride against my friends. But when I saw you throw away your pride without hesitation to save Lilisuke, I made up my mind. I decided I'd forge magic swords to save my friends."
"I feel kinda bad now... knowing you had to make such a heavy resolve..."
Knowing the sheer weight of Welf's determination, Tsuna felt guilty that he was preparing to head into the War Game while keeping his own true power a secret.
"Your mindset isn't wrong. You can't get stronger if you're always clinging to the power of someone stronger than you. And more importantly, people who do that are no different from the fools who drowned in the power of magic swords. Besides, you're using your power properly when it counts, so hold your head up high."
"...Thanks."
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