Magika No Kenshi To Shoukan Maou:Volume 5 Intermission

Intermission – To the Journey of Pilgrimage

Part 1

The students of the Magic Division returned to the garrison triumphantly where they were greeted by the great shock of the Knight Order because of the Knight Academy’s students unpermitted attack and their achievement. In any case, tonight everyone would get some rest.

When the excitement of victory was starting to cool down, subsequently fatigue was weighing everyone down.

A long day had ended and the time had turned into a late night.

Kazuki too returned to the room that had been prepared for him, then after immediately going to the public bath he returned to his room, “That reminds me, who's the one I’ll be sharing the room with anyway?” He thought at this late hour. And then when he opened the door―

“Welcome back, Kazuki-kun♡”

Maybe she had just gotten out from bath, the steamy and flushed skin and face of Kaguya-senpai greeted him.

Moreover she had already changed into Asmodeus’ passion mode, her eyes were dyed violet and her Magic Dress was the simple version where all its decorations had been removed.

…The body that was piled up with fatigue searched for healing from the girl in front of his eyes as a matter of course. Kazuki unwittingly gulped and his breath stopped. “…Is senpai going to share the room with me?”

“Fufufu, what a coincidence isn’t it♡ Don’t call me senpai when it’s just the two of us alone.”

While laughing brightly…Kaguya came embracing him. The room allocation was decided by Kaguya and Kanon-senpai using lottery. The results were announced by sending individual mail containing the room number.

“…It’s not really a coincidence is it?” Kazuki returned the embrace for the moment while he retorted.

“It’s a coincidence okay~” *gyuu gyuu* Embracing strongly while rubbing her body, Kaguya talked like she was reading in monotone.

And then she pushed her lovely lips passionately on Kazuki’s cheek and sucked.

Even while Kazuki was dumbfounded, he accepted Kaguya’s sweet temptation completely….

“The event won’t go like that!”

A dignified voice as if exposing an evil plot reverberated, the blanket on top of one of the two beds in the room was *perori―n!* turned over. And then from inside, Hikaru-senpai leaped out.

“Hi, Hikaru-chan!?”

“Fuffuffu, I thought that this was going to happen so I followed after Kazuki and snuck inside his room just as you see!”

Hikaru-senpai too changed her appearance into a simple mode Magic Dress and without the decorations, her appearance looked like a high leg risqué leotard.

Hikaru-senpai was walking heavily near him and stole Kazuki from Kaguya…Kaguya-senpai.

“Ogling Kaguya like that is noo― good!” And then she kissed Kazuki.

“AAAAAAA―!” Kaguya-senpai raised a scream.

“Hehehe, Kaguya still hasn’t kissed Kazuki on the lips yet right♪”

Hikaru-senpai deliberately talked about a provocative matter, “Uuuuuuuu―” Kaguya-senpai became teary eyed.

Between the two girls, Kazuki was unable to do anything except grow cold from the two seniors' quarrel.

Kaguya was hugging at Kazuki as if jumping him, one more time, she pushed her lips strongly at Kazuki’s cheek. Filling it with emotion that she couldn’t have her way with Kazuki, she kept pushing her lips *muchu muchu*.

“Kaguya-senpai, I’m not doing such things for the sake of power so…don’t worry about something like a one time power, even if we kiss…”

“We must not!” Separating her lips, Kaguya-senpai rejected Kazuki’s words with a harsh tone.

“The level 10 that becomes usable from kissing is a trump card that must be valued importantly, that’s why…”

“Kaa―zukii♪” From the side, Hikaru-senpai kissed his lips one more time.

Not only on the lips, the kiss that was as if nuzzling on the whole face that Hikaru-senpai is fond of.

“A, again with thattt! Purposely kissing in front of me like that!!”

“Hehehe! After all a kiss on the cheek is only a greeting between friends, but a kiss between lips is the proof of relationship between a man and a woman…♪”

“Hikaru-senpai, you mustn’t say something that is bullying Kaguya-senpai you know.”

Kazuki hit the head of Hikaru-senpai *kotsun*.

“I’m sowwy♪ Ahaha, because looking at Kaguya’s expression makes me feel really good.”

“Senpai is not supposed to be an S but an M right?”

“Hey you!” *kotsun* Hikaru-senpai returned a knock on Kazuki’s head.

“Gununu, even now you two keep flirting…. That’s just fine, someday when it’s my time to kiss…it won’t be that kind of kiddy kiss, because I’ll do a more earth-shattering adult kiss for sure…”

“Adult kiss? Eh? The kiss that I’m doing is a kiddy kiss you say?”

“I won’t teach youu―”

“That’s! Not fair, come on teach mee―!”

Though if senpai looked it up on the internet senpai will understand, I think.

“That’s just fine, I won’t ask Kaguya anymore. I’m going to ask Liz Liza-sensei later.”

Hikaru-senpai hugged at Kazuki even stronger from the right side. Her breasts pressed at Kazuki.

“Wait Hikaru-chan. Your room is different right? This one is my room with Otouto-kun.”

Kaguya-senpai too came hugging him from the left side strongly. This side too was pressed with breasts.

Kuh…for a swordsman of the Hayashizaki-style, losing one’s presence of mind with just this much is not allowed!

“But Kaguya, you were doing something unfair in the room allocation after all! I’m going to tell on you to everyone!”

“Mumumu. …It really can’t be helped, Then let’s share Otouto-kun with the two of us.”

“Ok, there's no other choice except striking that deal is there?”

“Err, you two senpai, aren’t you two too calmly treating me like a thing here?”

With Kazuki’s tsukkomi inside his heart as an unrelated matter, Kaguya-senpai rubbed her voluptuous body to Kazuki just like usual. Hikaru-senpai too was undauntedly rubbing her body repeatedly. Hikaru-senpai had a slender body proportion, but the places where it should be developed were really developed. Just as he thought her body was soft.

“Kazuki, is your penis not changing?” Again Hikaru-senpai was observing that kind of place!

The two of them kept gluing their bodies to Kazuki and all together pushed him down, collapsing on the bed.

This was…before this, there was also the situation where he slept together with Lotte and Koyuki in a sandwich of risqué appearance but…in the case of this duo, should he say that they had even more volume…!!

“Sen, senpai…are we going to sleep together in one bed with three people even though there are two beds here?”

“Otouto-kun, in this kind of situation, who on earth is going to sleep alone on the bed over there with loneliness?”

“…Me? And then Kaguya-senpai and Hikaru-senpai will get along well with the two of you in this one bed.”

“”There's no way anyone's going to benefit like that!!”” Both senpai matched their voices together.

Part 2

Because Yamato’s military force was concentrated at the military boundary line, if that military force withdrew then the group that Kanon-senpai spearheaded could advance until Nagoya, located in the heart of Chubu jurisdictio, in one go.

The <Aichi regiment garrison> that was once called Aichi prefectural police became the new base of operations from now on. From here they could choose whether to invade even further west to the area of Shiga or to invade to the area of Gifu in the north….

Not only recovering the territory, they also discovered the Knight Academy students that were taken prisoner when their buses were attacked. Originally these prisoners were supposed to be transported even further inside the territory of Yamato the next day without fail. This was just one more result that they earned from their swift action using the surprise attack strategy.

The prisoners were treated courteously. It seemed that their humane policies regarding welfare programs for the people and prisoner treatment were somehow the truth for the sake of obtaining support from the people.

In reverse from the battle this time Japan too was able to take prisoners of Yamato’s soldiers in large numbers―and then interrogations were conducted.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Kazuki and Kazuha-senpai happened to be present in the interrogation of Yamato’s illegal magicians.

This was because inquiring about the Divas of Japanese Mythology was the biggest objective of the interrogation.

{And so, who is the Diva that possessed you?}

Yamato’s illegal magician that was restrained in the wine cellar―the [shrine maiden] was questioned by Futsunushi no Kami. It seemed a female that hosted the Diva of Japanese Mythology was called a Shrine Maiden.

The Shrine Maiden didn’t reply. She kept both her eyes closed and stayed silent in resistance.

{You had used up your strength in battle, you should have been released from the Wild God Transformation already shouldn’t you. Make your reply.}

Hearing the question of Futsunushi no Kami, {…It’s me} a voice of a female came, beside the Shrine Maiden a female Diva clad in flowery clothing was floating.

“Ame no Uzume-sama!” The Shrine Maiden opened both her eyes and opened her mouth in a fluster.

{So it’s Ame no Uzume. Why have you, who has the reputation and personality of a gentle soul, become the likes of a Wild God? If asked which side you are in, you should be on the side that dances and sings, soothing the angered Divas don’t you agree?}

{The shrine was…} Ame no Uzume murmured. {The shrine where we are deified was destroyed. The shrines that are located in western Japan, every one of them were defiled you know.}

{What did you say?}

{Japanese people were…saying that they are worshipping Solomon's 72 Pillars from now on so this shrine is not needed anymore… Because of that a lot of Japanese Mythology’s Divas lost their power, and they fell into a dormant state. Even so, a lot of Divas that barely maintained their strength became Wild Gods, they are lending their power to Yamato and going against the oppression of Japan…}

Ame no Uzume glared with a dangerous glint in her eyes towards Kazuki and the others. Shrines were defiled―because of that the Divas of the Japanese Mythology were in the process of losing their original power and burning in indignation. In the end they were rampaging.

{Did something like that really happen? My shrine was moved by Kazuha inside the school so I didn’t know though. …Kazuki, what do you think of this?}

“Headmaster Amasaki, what do you think? For the government to take such action, is it possible?”

Kazuki inquired to Headmaster Amasaki who finally arrived late this morning.

“It shouldn’t be easily possible. In the first place the government doesn’t perceive Solomon's 72 Pillars as a religion.”

{That’s right, of course it shouldn’t be possible. Leme and the others don’t demand any faith from the government.}

At the side of Headmaster Amasaki who talked with an astonished expression, Leme too talked while pouting.

{What did you say…?} Ame no Uzume raised her eyebrows.

“In other words I wonder if it’s not something like this. For the sake of enraging the Divas of Japanese Mythology, there was some fellow that spouted some lies and destroyed the shrines. And then to the enraged Divas, someone instigated matters by saying let’s overthrow the accursed government and build a country of Japanese Mythology.”

When Kazuki expressed that hypothesis―it seems the fact that the Divas of Japanese Mythology were easy to enrage was something true. The expression of Ame no Uzume that had the appearance of a lovely dancer “Whuat did you saaaaaaaayy?” together with a voice that seemed to come from the bottom of hell was ringing out, became a demon hag in the blink of an eye.

“If this is just a pure misunderstanding then it’s a simple story. If we can persuade them then a fight can be avoided right?”

Hearing Kazuki’s words, Futsunushi no Kami shook his face together with his sword body to the left and right.

{That’s impossible just so you know. Any argument won’t go through a Diva that is in the middle of being a Wild God. We have to make them like Ame no Uzume here where their host fell into magic intoxication. They will calm down after expending their strength completely once.}

“As expected, so crossing swords once against them is something unavoidable.”

{No, that’s not the only method available.} Ame no Uzume said with her expression that had returned to the former look of a girl.

{If the fury of our chief god is calmed down, the composure of Japanese Mythology’s other gods will also recover.}

“So if the Shrine Maiden that is possessed by that chief god is defeated and made to fall into magic intoxication, everything will be fine?”

{Exactly like that. And then the chief god of Japanese Mythology is…located in Ise.}

Futsunushi no Kami nodded gravely.

Ise―Mie prefecture. It was located in the west across the bay from Aichi prefecture they were currently staying at, in the eastern tip of Kii peninsula.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“…Oi, Kazuki. There is something I have to tell you about a prisoner’s matter but…”

Kazuki, who was going back to his room from the dungeon was called to stop by Kondou-san. Kondou-san was also leading Karin who he had found somewhere. …A prisoner with connections to Kazuki and Karin.

Kazuki and Karin were let to pass inside a private room in the underground for a [special prisoner] that was captured.

Inside, a single corpse was lying down.

Because there was a step called magic intoxication, even though this was a war, there was no one that really died. During the period concerning with the battle this time…this was the first time for Kazuki to see directly this thing called death.

“…The cause of death of this girl is?” Squeezing out his voice, Kazuki inquired.

“Her arms and legs were bound but…it looks like suicide using Psychokinesis to block her own blood flow to the brain. When she was discovered, it was already too late.”

There was no method of prevention.

“…Nee-san.” Karin too leaked out a squeezed voice.

That was the corpse of Hayashi Shizuka. An expression that could be called tranquil that she had never shown in the middle of battle, with not a single wound on that body, she looked like she was sleeping with a body that was growing cold.

Inside the atmosphere of tranquility, emotions of condolence were naturally growing full inside.

It’s the end when you die…. The time when she could be forgiven someday was…

“…Kazuki.” Karin, who before he knew it, had started calling him with his first name, whispered.

“…Even so, things where we couldn’t do anything about it, exist…”

“It’s like that huh.”

Karin’s shoulders shook in small trembling, those eyes of hers were blurred with tears. What this girl obtained, and what she lost. Kazuki understood everything of it. That was why Kazuki embraced her.

“U…uAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

Pushing her face into Kazuki’s chest, Karin screamed while crying.

Part 3

The knights in the garrison forgot the battle in the past and began to move for the next fight.

Kazuki, who returned to his room was called out by Akane-senpai this time and led to the corridor.

“Kazuki, now that I think back I didn’t even say words of appreciation did I?”

Senpai said so while walking somewhere. “Congratulations to your victory. It’s a really overwhelming achievement. …You are really amazing. I am acting as a staff officer at Kanon’s side, but I’m completely no good.”

“That’s…I’m just an amateur who knows nothing after all, rather I’m only hitting upon strange ideas.”

“It’s not like that at all though…[Magic Eye OgreCyclops].”

“Eh?” Suddenly being called with his alias in the past, Kazuki was taken aback.

“Fufuu, actually I had met you once long ago in the past. I wonder if you have completely forgotten?”

“Ee!?” He had this trauma from that one case with Mio where he couldn’t remember someone he had met and made her mad.

“Well, it’s only natural for you not to remember. The truth is I was attending a dojo when I was small. In an inter-style match, I have this experience of being instantly killed by a young man called Cyclops. It was an experience that taught me my standing.”

“Senpai was a swordsman too!?”

“Fufufu, I had no talent at all and stopped completely soon after you know. Even so I wanted to be connected to the Knight Order in some form, so I aimed to be a strategist and studied for it. Confucius, Clausewitz…it was fun imagining myself holding the baton of command and become a hero. Nevertheless a Stigma emerged on me before I even became a strategist, and I could become a cadet of the Knight Order normally in the end.”

“…So senpai became that well-informed in military science not from studying the advanced strategy theory of the third years.”

“But even if I study the theory, I’ve never been in a real battle at all. I foolishly studied properly, fell into the way of thinking exactly according to the mold and unable to think differently, and cannot cope at all when something unexpected happened. I can’t think like you who didn’t get caught in common practice and managed to grasp the essentials.”

“But in reverse, I cannot do what senpai can do. Even if it is the case that I can learn that essential something, isn’t this only a simple story of strengths and weaknesses for each person? Then, if I and senpai compensate for each place we are lacking in, we are going to be the strongest!”

“Cooperating between you and me…that sounds interesting though…fufuu, I’ll decline that offer. If a plain ugly woman who studies too much like me is together with you, then the other girls are going to begrudge me.”

“What begrudge…senpai is not a plain ugly woman who studies too much at all!”

“No, rather than mixing tactical theory together with someone like me …being together with Kanon or Kaguya, or with girls like that Amasaki-san will be more enjoyable right, for a boy like you.”

“Such a thing is not true, I also want to talk with senpai all night long until the morning you know, about Clausewitz.”

“There you go saying such things again.” Akane-senpai’s clever expression crumbled and a smile emerged.

“…Senpai, your smile right now is really pretty.”

“Fufufu, you just keep joking. But…thank you. That’s right, rather than cooperating together with you, from now on I’m going to aspire for you, I will be diligent and aim to reach your level, how about that I wonder?”

From Akane-senpai, a large heart mark came flying. Yagumo Akane―40

“Please stop that, what aspiration…even though you are my great senior.”

Akane-senpai looked back to the front direction of the corridor, “Well then” saying that she changed the subject.

“Actually it’s really enjoyable talking with you that, against my better judgment, I deliberately took the long way in our walk, however…”

“So it’s like that. I thought that we kept going round and round in circles for a while. What a schemer.”

“Fufufu, for you to also notice it properly, just as I thought, you have an eye for the essentials, don’t you?”

Both of them faced each other and grinned broadly. Though when he thought that, Akane-senpai’s face immediately became serious.

“…While we were going around in circles meaninglessly, the truth is that we had seriously become lost children. Where in the world is this place currently?”

“Eh!? Wai, is senpai seriously saying that!?”

“Just as I thought I’m a no good person…. Kazuki, do something with your intuition of the essentials somehow…”

“Eeee, please don’t say such pathetic things senpai! Understood, I’ll do something somehow! But even I’m going to try somehow, with not much information to go on…!”

“What I was saying just now is just a joke, our destination is right here.”

Akane-senpai suddenly moved her body right to the side, then she knocked on the door to a room that was in that direction. Kazuki reflexively pitched forward foolishly in an almost falling position.

It was one of the hotel’s rooms that had been transformed into the [strategy meeting room] so to speak.

Inside, Headmaster Amasaki, Kanon-senpai and then the regimental commander of Shizuoka regiment whose name was Yamagata Koyata, a man in the prime of his life were already in the room surrounding a table. On top of the table was a map that was spread out.

“The time for us to counterattack has also come.” Commander Yamagata said when Kazuki and Akane-senpai took a seat.

“Pardon me for suddenly entering the main topic, but the battle strength of eastern Japan is currently massing little by little in this garrison of the military boundary line. If it becomes like this then it's irrelevant even if our movements are leaked. Even with our movements leaked we are going to hit Gifu prefecture with our maximum strength, no question asked.”

“Why Gifu?” Kazuki interjected a question. There should be an option to march to the west too.

“If we are invading in the direction of further inside with Aichi prefecture as the beginning of our counter offensive, the defensive line will naturally become a great length, then the placement of soldiers will become difficult.”

So that’s it, when the military boundary line turned long, the defensive battle strength was going to be dispersed completely.

When the battlefield became a wide area, it was overwhelmingly advantageous for Yamato’s side who could obtain information through the traitor.

“Because of that we are going north from Aichi prefecture and aim for Gifu prefecture. Against our maximum battle strength, the other side will surely intercept with their maximum battle strength too. It’s convenient. Because if we shave off the opponent’s battle strength in one go then this conflict is as good as over. This all-out war of East and West…following your naming we are going to do [Magic War・Sekigahara]!”

“If we win this then the efficiency is good, but won’t our side’s damage become great too?”

When Akane-senpai interjected with a skeptical objection, Commander Yamagata was “I know” nodding.

From there he looked around restlessly at his surroundings as if searching for a monitoring camera and lowered his voice.

“…Of course we are not going to clash with them without any plan. This side too is preparing a plan. That bunch turned up in our territory working their tricks before, this time we are going to return the favor. Preceding the invasion to Gifu, we will send the minimum number of people to the enemy territory…”

He pointed at a certain point in the map on top of the table.

“…They are going to penetrate Ise Grand Shrine, beat the chief god of the Japanese Mythology and resolve the misunderstanding. I listened to the report. If we manage to do that, won’t the Divas of the Japanese Mythology all return to their senses and withdraw from the war front? With this Yamato will lose their military force all at once…and we will commence an all-out attack.”

I see, Kazuki nodded in comprehension.

If the danger to this [someone] that would invade Ise was not considered, this was a perfect idea.

“This is the strategy decided from the discussion with me and Kanon-kun. No one knows about this except the people here in this place right now. We have no intention to inform any other people―even the top brass of the Knight Order. In other words this strategy to invade Ise will not be conducted by the Knight Order, but we want the students of the Knight Academy to be the ones that do it. Because of that, this strategy’s arbitrary judgment…will be done by the Chief Student Council President and Headmaster Amasaki’s own judgment. You two will be the ones who will move the realization of this plan.”

In other words, the one who would execute this strategy was….

“Hayashizaki Kazuki. Making a student carry this great burden makes my heart heavy, but there is no other choice except having you do this.”

I understand…he couldn’t say anything else other than that.

“But what are we going to do about the penetration route? Those Yamato bunch entered our territory through the traitor, but we cannot do that kind of thing so simply.

“Use a sea route.”

“Using the sea is the idea that I thought of you know-☆“ Kanon-senpai gloated.

“In the first place, our country traditionally has insufficient maritime defense on the Pacific Ocean side. It’s because we were concentrating the precaution in Japan’s seaward side that are facing North Korea and Russia. The minimum monitoring is performed but the radar site is mainly directed to the sky.”

Commander Yamagata used his own finger as the comparison of an antenna and faced diagonally above.

“From the beginning, radar that is installed on the surface is weak at monitoring the sea's surface and low altitude sky anyway. For that purpose we are using patrol planes to look out for suspicious ships, but patrol planes don’t really get deployed in the side that is facing the Pacific Ocean. …Essentially, if there is going to be any violation of territorial sovereignty from the side of the Pacific Ocean then it’s going to be from the air.”

Ise Grand Shrine, the target destination, was in Mie prefecture. Between Aichi prefecture and Mie prefecture, Ise Bay was stretching.

Commander Yamagata traced a line on top of the map using his finger to show the route that the ship going to pass in Ise Bay.

“In the case that Yamato doesn’t make this oversight, what then?” Kazuki pointed out in a prudent tone. “They might see through the danger from the phase of our recovery of Aichi prefecture and shift the patrol planes from the side of the Sea of Japan to Ise Bay.”

“We had confirmed that there is no such movement using our satellite observation system.”

…Satellite observation system. Kazuki was lost for words. So even that kind of thing had entered the stage.

If he thought about it, there was a great number of fields outside combat where using technology was far better than magic. He was only putting his attention to Summoning Magic so he tended to unconsciously forget completely about the application merit of such things but….

“Even if we have a satellite monitoring system, it’s not an omnipotent system that can only be used in limited time and condition though. Anyway we have confirmed that there is a hole in the coastal security of the Yamato side from satellite images. Although all the facilities that were possessed by the Knight Order in western Japan are all taken over and it can be said that excellent politicians are gathering there within limitation, Yamato is still a new country that was just built in a short period and they are still in a period of disorder. They have a lot of gaps.”

Period of disorder…Just like when Chūkadou was sending spies to Japan when Tokyo was destroyed. So this time it was Japan that was going to take advantage of the disorder there.

“A small type boat is being prepared for the sake of this covert operation. So only a minimum number of members needed is going to be sent to carry out the operation.”

“You said the minimum number, in other words how much is it?”

“Two persons. Actually we just want only you alone to go, but surely you are going to need a person that can interact with the Divas of Japanese Mythology. Accordingly we want the same Knight Academy student like you, Tsukahara Kazuha to mobilize together with you.”

Kazuki felt a slight nervousness in his chest. With Kazuha-senpai…just the two of them alone?

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“So that’s how it became like this.”

When Kazuki conveyed that development through his cell phone, “Eh…eeeeeeeeehh!?” such a loud voice was the reply. While making a wry smile toward senpai’s reaction, Kazuki had instead become even calmer.

“Somehow the date that I promised seems to be becoming a fairly romantic situation, senpai.”

Translator's Notes and References

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