'んーーーっ……ふへぇ……'

　昨日ログアウトしたトリリアの宿にスポーンした私は,ぐっと体を伸ばしてから今日の予定を確認する.
　今日は正午から琥珀と手合わせをする約束をしていて,早めにログインしたつもりだったけど,酒呑に拉致されたせいで少し予定がズレてしまったからだ.

　メニューを開いて時間を確認しようとすると,表示されている時間から違和感を感じる.

'ん？　あれ？　時間が進んでないような……？'

　ログインした時間と,現在時刻のズレがほとんどないのだ.
　少なくとも５分は絶対にいたと思うんだけど……ログイン時間の方を見間違えたかな？

'ま,いっか. えーと,トリリア中心部にある水上闘技場だっけ'

　琥珀から渡されたチケットを手に,私は宿を抜け出す.
　彼女に指定された場所は,トリリアにおけるちょっとした興行施設. 通称,水上闘技場だ.
　週１回ペースで闘技大会が開かれていて,プレイヤーもお金を払えば参加できる他,普段は対モンスターのいわゆる公営ギャンブルを行っているらしい.
　そして,水上闘技場にはミニ闘技場が隣接されていて,トレーニングスペースとして解放されている.
　そのトレーニングスペースはNPCから教練のクエストを受けた時などに使うらしい. NPCの冒険者などが修練したりしていて,結構いいトレーニングになるんだとか.
　当然,私が呼び出された理由もそれである.


☆


'今日も一日頑張ろー'

『わこ』
『わここ』
『わこここ』

'三段活用か何か？'

　とりあえずと言わんばかりに始めた配信に早速ついたコメントの連携具合に苦笑する.
　昨日は琥珀との兼ね合いがあってほとんど垂れ流しみたいな配信になってしまった.
　それはそれでありなんだろうけど,この後も琥珀と会うことを考えると少しくらいリスナーと接してもいいだろう.

'まだ少し時間あるなぁ……'

『今日は何するん？』
『すげーヴェネツィアみたい』
『ひぇっ,水路の水深深い……深くない？』
『水綺麗だな』

'確かに深いかも. あ,水竜見えるよ'

　水の都であるトリリアの街並みを楽しみながら,私は闘技場への道を歩いていた.
　湖上都市という名の通り,このトリリアは湖のど真ん中に位置しているんだけど,どうやって建築したらこんな風に街が作れるんだろう？

　街中を水路が走っていて,下手に歩き回るよりはタクシーのような感覚で小舟に乗った方が快適に移動できそうな感じ.
　私の目的地はわかりやすいから乗ってないけど,帰りは乗った方が楽かもしれない.

'そこの嬢ちゃん！　見ねぇ顔だな！'

　きょろきょろしながら歩いていると,道沿いの屋台のおっちゃんに声をかけられた.

'昨日着いたばっかりなので'

'ほう,そんじゃあトリリア名物の水竜饅頭はまだ食べてねぇだろ. せっかくだしひとつどうだ？'

'商魂たくましいな……じゃあ２つお願い'

'毎度！'

　５００イリス払って,大きな饅頭を２つ……いやでかいでかいなんだこれ！？
　直径３０センチ,高さ６センチって所かな. ２つ袋に入ってると結構かさばる.

『でっか』
『でかい』
『ビッグ』
『サイズ感おかしくない？』

　リスナーもまた私と同じ感想を抱いていたようで,思わず露天の見本を見る. うん,普通のまんじゅうに見えるな.

　琥珀の分も……と思って買っちゃったけど,これ琥珀は食べるかなぁ.
　微妙な顔をして受け取った私は,店主に笑い飛ばされながら先に進む.
　大は小を兼ねるとか言うけど,流石に３０センチ大の饅頭は兼ねるも何もなさすぎる.

'あ,美味しい'

『どんな味？』
『水っぽそう』
『トロトロしてそう』

'いや,ただの饅頭'

『ちぇっ』
『ちぇっ』
『けっ』

　リスナーの反応が辛辣すぎる.
　ただ純粋にバカでかいだけの饅頭だけど,だからこそ普通に美味しかった.
　水竜饅頭とは……？

　その後も魚の串焼きを食べたり,それを水路から飛び出してきた水竜の子供に奪い取られたりしながら,私はなんだかんだで観光を楽しんだのだった.


☆


'やあ,早かったね'

'いや,琥珀こそ早すぎじゃない？'

'楽しみすぎてね,２時間くらい前から待ってたんだ'

　水上闘技場に併設されたトレーニングスペース. もはやもうひとつの闘技場と言っても相違なさそうな広々とした修練場で,琥珀は笑いながらそう言った.
　まだ正午から１時間くらい前である. 今から２時間前ってもう朝の９時くらいだよ？

　周囲では修練に励むNPCやプレイヤーがいて,アーツの練習をしたりスキル習得の訓練をしたりとそこそこ活気に溢れている.
　そして,一部のNPCは有名人である琥珀の存在が気になるのか,ただ立っているだけなのに注目を集めてしまっていた.

'これ,水竜饅頭. ひとつあげるよ'

'Oh, this brings back memories. I used to eat it a lot when I was young because it's so cheap. ...... Yes, it's delicious.'

'I was surprised that it was bigger than I expected.

　I had already eaten all the water dragon buns before I came here, but Amber took them happily and ate them in no time at all.
　So you're a pretty big eater, huh?

'Thank you, it was delicious.

'You're welcome. So, what are you going to do today?

'Before that, do you remember the dance I taught you yesterday?

''The "Rapture Dance" and the "Double-Edged Dance", right?

''Yes, you remembered them well.

　Rare skill 《Oni no Mai》. The first set, the Rapture Dance. And the Double-Edged Dance. Both of these arts are easy to use and have almost no disadvantages for the demon race.


　The "Rapture Dance" is a simple art that buffs your physical skills instead of reducing your intellect status to 0.
　You can learn it when your strength reaches 100, but if you don't have 100, you can't learn the demon dance itself.
　It has a fairly high multiplier of 20%. There are no disadvantages. If I had to say, I would say that the duration of the effect is short (1 minute), and you can't use it again until 10 minutes have passed.


　As for the double-edged dance, as you can imagine from the name, it is an art that discards defense.
　In addition to magic defense, it also reduces sturdiness to 0, and in exchange for removing the armor's defense correction, it applies high buffs to strength and agility.
　The multiplier is a whopping 2x for strength and 1.5x for agility, but the fact that sturdiness is reduced to 0 severely restricts the use of techniques that deal recoil damage.
　For example, arts such as the Tenfold Cherry Blossom used in Bare-handed Fighting reduce recoil damage in proportion to your sturdiness, so if you lose your sturdiness, you'll instantly melt away.
　Of course, since you lose all your durability, all attacks from enemies are deadly. It's a double-edged sword.

　In addition, it has an effect duration of 5 minutes, and most powerfully, its effect synergizes with the effects of the Rapture Dance and the "Hungry Wolf".
　In other words, I am in a state where I can instantly obtain more than three times the muscle strength value. In addition, my agility will be more than doubled.

　By the way, it seems that these effects are synergistic on the "Hungry Wolf" side.
　This is probably the difference between the Double-Edged Dance, which is just an art included in the skill, and the Hungry Wolf, which is a rare skill.
　At first glance, this skill seems to be a backward-compatible version of Morohana no Mai, with a heavy disadvantage for its effect, but it has an extremely powerful effect that multiplies all buffs.
　Basically, a buff that multiplies by 2 and a buff that multiplies by 3 can be multiplied by 6, whereas a buff that multiplies by 2 and a buff that multiplies by 3 can be multiplied by 4, such as +300% by adding +100% and +200%.

　The required strength value is 150, and the cool time is 1 hour. You can't use it as often as you do the Rajin Dance, but it's definitely a lighter art than the Hungry Wolf.


'Yesterday, I only finished teaching you, so you didn't get to test the usability of the demon dance, right?　So I thought I'd let you try it out today.

　Amber said, and signaled one of the NPCs at the edge of the training space.
　A few moments later, the other players and NPCs who had been scattered about the training space began to leave, leaving only Amber and me in this circular mini-arena.



'I had to be a little flexible. I paid them to let me use this place for a little while.'

'Are you fighting some kind of monster or something?

　When I heard that it was Amber who had dispatched the people, I asked her if she was going to practice fighting monsters, which was also done in the arena next door.
　Amber smiled when she heard it and shook her head firmly.

'No, it's not monsters that Skuna will be fighting.

'Huh?

'You're strong. You're also extremely talented. Even I, who was said to be the strongest of the demon tribe, seem to be hazy when it comes to your talent in battle. That's why I think I have to teach you.''

　Amber leaped in a light tone and landed in the middle of the training space, and took a gentle stance.
　I'm not so stupid that I can't understand what you're telling me.
　A mock battle. This is why Amber took the trouble to rent out this training space for a limited time.
　I understood that, so I lightly clapped the heavy metal gauntlets on my arms and switched on my concentration.



　In the center of the circular field, Amber and I took our positions.
　Amber closed her eyes and then opened them.
　At that moment, the whole training space was filled with a terrible pressure.

'Come with all your might. I will subdue all of them.

　Smiling before the demon princess.
　For just one person, I felt a terrifyingly large presence, like being in front of a giant beast.