Chapter 670
Smart Swordsman
Minamoto Shunko, codename [Blade Warrior]
Ranked eighth in the Heroes Association, a powerful swordsman.
A disciple of the Sword Master and Zantōken Master Rōkō,
now standing at the pinnacle of the Rōkō Kenjutsu.
The Lord of Ichidō’s Castle Yangcheng.
Nagoya City’s number one guardian hero.
And
An extremely irresponsible, lewd uncle who spews
dirty jokes!
Honoka Enba’s answer almost
explicitly told Kazumi the the reason for the problem. After all, as the
top combat power stationed in every city by the Heroes Association, any
ordinary person with a slight understanding of this aspect would definitely
know the name of the professional hero who protects their entire city.
[So I can only say, as expected of him.
Him? This is exactly the kind of thing he would do.]
In the lounge beside the training room, the girl sat on a soft
cushion, but her mind was filled with
the image of that perverted uncle who picked his nose while eating and
loudly played videos of dancing girls on the table.
Honoka Enba’s answer was indeed somewhat beyond Kazumi’s
expectations, but when she connected it to her understanding of Minamoto
Shunko from their brief encounters, it was perfectly reasonable.
Except for that guy, whose reliability was non-existent apart from his
strength, he could indeed do something as outrageous as handing over the
duty of protecting his city to others.
Moreover, according to Honoka Enba, this guy specifically
chose Nagoya City as the city he would guard with a purpose.
Knowing his personality and strength, as he was already familiar with
Honoka Hongmaru, he felt at ease entrusting this mission to him.
“He’s really quite malicious, isn’t he?”
Picking up the hot tea on the table and taking a sip, Kazumi
waved her hand in front of her, finally dispelling the unpleasant
images from her mind.
These messy affairs within the Heroes Association were
naturally of little concern to Kazumi. But the method the girl was
seriously considering at that moment was
how to reduce the frequency of interaction between Safukuji Shinichi and
this unreliable senior. She couldn’t let him get led astray by him!
“Click”
As Kazumi pondered, the lounge door was opened from the outside,
and the blond young man with a slightly foolish grin on his face appeared
before her.
“Kazumi, how was your rest?”
He stepped aside, revealing the scene within the training room.
“The equipment debugging is complete. We can head over now.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there.”
Kazumi put down her teacup and followed Shinichi out of the
lounge.
Passing through a long corridor decorated with flame patterns,
the two arrived at a spacious training room.
The training room was as large as half a gymnasium. The surrounding
walls were covered with silver-gray special alloy, and the floor was
paved with fire-resistant ceramic tiles. Several sprinkler systems were
hung from the ceiling, and various precision instruments were neatly
arranged in the corners.
The most eye-catching feature was the hemispherical transparent
protective shield in the center.
Complex runes were etched onto the floor within the shield.
This setup made Kazumi’s brows furrow. Especially the special
runes on the shield’s floor, which bore the mark of Honoka Mai,
indicating at a glance that they were the work of a spirit user. She
hadn’t expected that the [Emperor Yan] would also have dealings with
spirit users.
Honoka Enba was standing in front of a radar-like instrument,
adjusting parameters, while Honoka Kiyoshi was testing flames in his
hand.
Seeing the two enter, Enba looked up with a bright smile. “Oh, you’re here.”
He keenly noticed Kazumi’s slightly troubled expression and couldn’t help
but laugh. “Are you still dwelling on what happened earlier?
Hahaha!”
His laughter echoed in the training room, causing the indicator lights on the
instruments to flicker.
However, it was understandable, as the public image of Master
Minamoto was completely different from his private one.
Enba walked out from behind the instrument, picked up a wristband from the
adjacent wall, and handed it to Kazumi. At the same time, his smile
instantly vanished, and he became serious.
“But, speaking of this matter, I still have to defend Master
Minamoto a little. If Master Minamoto hadn’t voluntarily handed over the
defense of Nagoya City to us, after the Patriarch lost the competition back
then, our alliance truly wouldn’t have had anything to do.
In that case, being locked up in the house by the Patriarch wouldn’t be
something we’d want to see. Now that we can contribute to the citizens of
this city, it’s something everyone is happy to see and work towards.”
Kazumi took the wristband and felt the lingering warmth on it.
She looked up at Enba. The eyes of the man, who gave a thoroughly lewd
impression, now shone with an unusually serious gaze.
The girl’s mind raced. Almost instantly, she understood what Honoka Enba
was trying to convey to her.
From their previous casual conversation after dinner and the information
she had gathered, the “seed of fire” that Hongmaru had used to develop his
power to compete with the current number one hero, Hama Seiji, back then.
After all, Hama Seiji was surrounded by a large group of people at the time,
while Honoka Hongmaru, due to his personality, had only a few supporters.
After losing the competition for the position of number one with Hama
Seiji, Honoka Hongmaru, with his personality, was naturally unwilling to be
subordinate to his rival. So, he left the Heroes Association and returned
to his mansion in Nagoya City, withdrawing from the world.
Although Honoka Hongmaru, as a graduate of the former Imperial
Academy, had an impeccable resume and conviction as a professional hero,
having such a large group of combatants, even capable of rivaling Hama
Seiji, lying idle at home was a huge waste of resources and a potential
risk.
Minamoto Shunko’s move was perfect. It not only utilized this group of
ability users who posed a potential risk but also took into account
Honoka Hongmaru’s fragile and proud heart at the time. After all, the man
was so angry that he directly quit the Heroes Association. A strong
individual studying at Shikoku Academy with extreme heroic convictions and
being extremely active as a professional hero would directly withdraw from
the association. It could be seen how furious the [Emperor Yan] must have
been at the time.
It even fulfilled Minamoto Shunko’s not-so-lazy ulterior motive, leaving
Kazumi unsure whether to admire the scheming of this greasy uncle or to
say that the guy truly had his own unique approach to these unorthodox
methods.
Kazumi nodded slightly, her fingertips brushing over the fine
flame patterns on the wristband. “Hearing you say that, Mr. Minamoto was
indeed very considerate.”
A smile returned to Honoka Enba’s face, the wrinkles at the corners of his
eyes smoothing out. “I’m just saying all this because I don’t want Master
Minamoto to be misunderstood. He’s clearly not very talkative usually.” Speaking of which, he suddenly lowered his voice. “But absolutely don’t tell him I praised him like this… At critical moments, he’s still very reliable.”
An instrument beside the protective shield in the corridor suddenly emitted
a beeping sound. He looked up from the control panel. “Uncle Enba, preheating is complete.”
“Alright!”
Enba clapped his hands, and the training room lights instantly switched to a dark red, indicating combat readiness.
“Then, enough of our idle chat. Kazumi, take the wristband I gave you, and let’s test your ability values first.”
