I’d liked to have given a quick thank you for reading, but as I was returning from dinner, my inn suddenly burst into flames.

“Hyooooeeeee!” I screamed and started crying.

….It’s nothing to laugh about! All of my luggage is within that blaze!

I say “luggage” but that wasn’t just any old luggage. Among the many magic items were various precious gems! A fortune doesn’t even cover it. Basically, it was worth enough to buy an entire town. Which means…! Which means…!!! Aaaahhh I’ve suddenly become poor!

A large crowd formed in the streets. Some people formed a fireman’s line, passing sorcerer’s cast Ext Ball, but against the growing flames, it didn’t have much effect. And then–

“A person!” someone yelled. “There’s still someone in there!”

I looked into the flames.

There, on the third floor veranda, which had yet to be touched by flames, she struck her pose. Long black hair. Thin, deep eyes that housed her intellect. She was a considerable beauty.

But.

She was wearing a skull around her neck! Her chest and crotch were barely covered by a sad excuse for clothing, and she was wearing this ridiculously gaudy costume! Like this, she stood in the hot wind with her cape fluttering.

If it were to come into fashion some hundreds of years in the future, they would call it The Evil Sorceress look.And if you wore it in the winter, you would definitely catch a cold. Anyway, that was her.

What kind of taste does this girl have?! …then again I have met one other person whose bad taste resembled hers.

She looked this way– rather, it was clear that she was staring directly at me.

Ughh… I thought it couldn’t be, but…

Bam! She pointed at me and spoke in a voice that wouldn’t lose to the flames.

“Lina Inverse!”

Auuugh! I knew it!

Whisper, whisper. The crowd stirred.

“Who? Hey, who’s she talking about?” I frantically looked around, pretending to be someone else immediately.

“I mean you! You! Stop looking around! The tiny little sorceress in the black cape with brown hair!”

“Well sorry for being so short!” I automatically shot back. The crowds eyes all turned toward me at once.

Shiiiit! I have no choice but to get serious now. I glared at the girl straight in front of me.

“What are you planning?!”

“A fine question! In short, today the curtain shall be drawn on the Legend of the Invincible Dark Lord, a title which you are so proud to own, by none other than I, Naga the Serpent!”

D-Dark Lord… Who the hell is that?!

The crowds’ eyes turned cold…

Actually, among sorcerers my name is fairly well known. By carrying on modestly, earning travel expenses by annihilating bandit gangs wherever I go, for some completely incomprehensible reason I get labeled as some invincible fiend. And with humans, whenever rumors pop up about someone being ultra powerful, for some reason they decide to gain fame by defeating them. All sorts of people who think like that show up.

Actually, up til now I’ve fought who knows how many groups like that. But if this Naga person is the same, I wonder if she’ll just do it alone…

“At any rate, in place of a greeting I have turned your lodging and belongings into ash. Hoooohohoho. So? How does it feel?”

“Hohohoooo… You…” My temple twitched.

“If that’s how it is, it’d be great if I could take out my anger out on you!”

“If you can still even feel anger!”

“Alllll Right! I accept your challenge! Now get down here!” Just as I said that…

pop pop pop.

Naga’s mouth twitched. She muttered something as she looked around. That must mean, she hadn’t thought about it. The way down, that is.

That’s rare. Usually that’s something to think about even if you want to stage a play properly, and she’s someone who doesn’t think about it until after the fact.

“Kyaa! Somebody!” Naga Screamed.

“Auuugh! Are you stupid?!” Letting my anger get the better of me, I released a flare arrow, but while Naga was running every which way, the flames just pierced the bottom of the veranda. As the flames spread, her figure disappeared into the fire. And with that, I really didn’t know her true character, but those were the last moments of the self-titled Naga the Serpent.

“Oh, belongings, I have taken care of your enemy.” I made a V sign toward the sky.

Just then, I could feel a lust for blood lurking in my surroundings.

“…hey…”

I was suddenly surrounded by a group of men, one of which pressed toward me with a threatening look.

Th-These guys can’t be…

“What were you thinking using a fire spell?! You’re just causing more trouble!”

Fire fighters!

“W-Well…” I grinned as sweat formed on my forehead.

The men glared at me sternly. Of course, no matter what I did, it was useless to gloss over it with a smile. In that case…

“Heh… Eheh~ My mistake… Sorry! <3” I put my fists near my mouth and wiggled a bit.

…of course that didn’t change their expressions. But there should have been no doubting that.

“Ah… aha…. Ahahahaha… Ray Wing!” Using my high-speed flight spell, my body floated over their heads and took off flying due west!

“Agh! She ran!” Someone yelled behind me. Secretly, I was just dodging responsibility! …which is something good kids don’t do.

***

“Oooohohoho. We meet again, Lina Inverse!”

On a beachfront highway, I encountered ‘that.’

The sea breeze tickled my nose pleasantly. The sun was warm and comforting. It was already early summer. I was fine because I was holding my cape together with a light chill spell inside, but this weather would make anyone sweat a little. In this heat with her body battered and wrapped in bandages, both arms holding crutches to support her weight, she stood in the shadow of a roadside tree.

She probably wasn’t appearing like this by choice, but just looking at her made me feel hot. Of course, I just stood still. The way she called my name and said “meet again” she must have been an acquaintance but… since her face was also wrapped in bandages, I had no recollection of her. From her voice she seemed like an adult woman but…

“…who are you?”

There was a small sound off in the distance.

“Heh.” A bit later she revealed a little grin. She pointed at me, but promptly stopped when she started to lose her balance.

Let me think, with this pattern of movements straight out of a play, she’s must be….

“You’re good at feigning ignorance, little girl. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten! Your lifelong greatest and final rival, Naga the Serpent!”

…

I tilted my head. “Who are you…?”

The sound of the waves resounded to no avail.

***

Of course, that was a joke. Naga the Serpent. I can’t just forget someone that I’ve personally set on fire like that. It makes for such great joke material when I’m visiting my sister back home.

But, if she survived that… I don’t know if she somehow anticipated what I would do, but it was an impressive effort. However– I don’t remember her being my lifelong rival!

Anyway, that joke just now must have come as quite a shock for this Naga lady. She was completely petrified. It was amusing, so I watched for a little while.

***

Ah. She eventually awoke from her petrified state, only after I had finished off a bento as a late lunch. It seemed like she was going through some kind of of deep internal conflict.

“U-Under these circumstances, my identity has nothing to do with whether you remember me or not. However, from now on, I will defeat you. Even if you’ve taken on the title of ‘invincible’ it only holds any meaning if it’s true!”

I see. So that’s what was going through her head…

“Let’s go!” She said as she began chanting a spell.

This spell is– Dynast Breath!

It certainly is, but… didn’t you have to do some gestures?

For attack spells, if it’s something on the level of a Fireball, you don’t really need to make a specific pose. At the sorcerer’s guild they taught us the precise motions to make, but that was just to amplify the power of the spell. More than just lowering the destructive power of the spell, if miscast, in worst cases it can put you in bed. However, slowly but surely there come to be spells that are so strong that you can’t tell anyone about them, and this is where the story changes. It doesn’t mean it’s always the case, but generally, you need to make a few gestures.

From her mouth, I thought that this spell should have…

Sleeping deep wthin the Earth

Dynast, who possesses a frozen soul

Naga’s spell came to an end there.

I knew it. You have to pose for that part.

Frantically raising her right hand, she lost half her balance and an intense struggle unfolded.

Hah… huff…haaow!

Too much. She suddenly fell over.

Struggle, struggle. Somehow no matter what she did, her crutches were getting in the way of helping her get up. She suddenly stopped moving.

Hm?

And again… struggle struggle struggle!

And somehow we ended up with a one-hour intermission.

…And just for emphasis, I absolutely, positively do not remember ever having a lifelong rival like this!

Suddenly, Naga stopped moving again.

“…Lina, help me…”

Uggghh! A girl her age should not be using such a pathetic voice! My head hurts…

I’m fine abandoning her, but if she dries out and dies because she couldn’t get up (is she a cockroach?) then I might have trouble sleeping sometime in the future. While Naga was once the enemy of Luggage, I’ve already forgotten about that. After dissolving four bandit gangs, my finances were a little better. And it might have been the stress relief, but my heart had foolishly opened.

“I guess there’s no helping it.” I helped up the wriggling girl, and with her crutches she was somehow able to stand again.

“Heheheheh…” a chuckle immediately leaked out of Naga. “Hooohohoho, That’s very sweet of you, Lina Inverse! Showing such sympathy to the enemy!”

…hey… lady…

“This time I will show you my true power!” She began reciting a spell.

This time of course, it was one without any motion. However, even though she says ‘her true power, I feel like she already showed that a long time ago… The girl’s a shallow well..

Whack. I tripped her with her own crutch.

Once again I had easily defeated Naga. It’s like she wasn’t even aware of my position.

Struggle struggle. Naga began thrashing around again. I wasn’t even at the point of shedding a tear for the sorceress.

The wind blew. Naga stopped moving.

“…help me, Lina…”

“I don’t care anymore!”

I left her behind me, where she continued yelling at me for some reason, and headed for the next post town. And that was the last time I saw the self-titled sorceress, Naga the Serpent.

Well, it would be nice if I could say that.

***

“Hooohoho! We meet again, again, Lina Inverse!”

Pfffft!

I spat out all of the Panon juice that I had just bought at this street stall.

“…gross…” Naga said with a scowl.

“Don’t criticize me! Who’s fault do you think that was?!”

Uggghhh, great. Her wounds healed.

I reluctantly fulfilled my third encounter with her, in this town more than ten days later. In the middle of the main street in broad daylight, this over-exposed woman randomly let out this bizarre, loud, laugh. No matter what kind of look was on their faces, it wasn’t hard to guess what people in the street were thinking.

“H-Hold on! I don’t really care, but you can’t just say things like that in the middle of the day like this!” I blushed as I spoke in a low voice.

‘This some kind of show?’

‘Check out that sexy lady!’

‘She’s not wearing anything!’

Without paying any mind to the various hooting of the crowd, Naga grinned.

…could it be that maybe she’s the only one who doesn’t notice…

“Oh? Are we scared, little girl? Of what the one before you has come to do? Well, now that my wounds have fully healed, your filthy hands won’t work on me a second time!”

Uhhhh, I’m sick of thiiiis. I don’t wanna be invooolved….

I just wanted to cry. Is there no place where I can find a decent enemy?! Fine! We’ll just settle this all at once, otherwise my unwanted relationship with her will never end! But in reality, I’m not very motivated to take this fight seriously…

“Fine. I get it. Let’s settle this once and for all.”

“Oh…” Naga’s eyes narrowed with satisfaction. As her second name implies, she completely reminded me of a snake. “You’ve finally made your resolve then…”

I didn’t resolve anything.

For a short while, the two of us faced each other. While this girl is surely dumber than a sea slug, she has considerable capacity. The Dynast Breath she once used to no avail, isn’t a spell that just anyone can cast. I can’t afford to get caught up in something like that.

“…then…that’s when…” The whispers of the onlooking crowd flew to my ears.

“Hey hey, is that girl friends with ‘that?”

“She’s still so young… poor thing…”

“I wonder what kind of training she’s giving her…”

Instantly I was blushing.

Th-Think positive…. I definitely don’t plan on losing to her at full power, but for the sake of my pride, it’d be better to do this far from here.

“Th-the place will be outside of this city, we’ll set the time for tonight at sunset. How do these terms sound?” I said, flustered.

This way, there should be less people around. In the event that Naga pulls more embarrassing crap, if we’re surrounded by eyes… I really don’t want that. So rather than doing the same thing here, farther away would be preferable.

Naga chuckled with a grin.

“What makes you say such things? It’s just as I thought, you’re afraid to fight me, aren’t you?”

If by that she meant I was afraid of fighting someone with a face like hers, then I guess I was afraid but…

“If you say something like that, you must have been planning to run away after all!”

Well, I certainly did think about that for a moment. But even if I did, my tenacious pursuer would appear before my eyes again some other day.

“You think you could get away successfully?! We settle this here and now!” As she finshed, she recited a spell.

“Freeze Arrow!”

“W-Wait!”

“Quiet!”

A number of cold arrows appeared before Naga’s eyes.

The crowd worked itself into a panic and ran. Screams and yells entangled, vendor’s carts collapsed, children cried. …an inconvenience for the entire neighborhood.

Flare arrow is a kind of opposite to this spell. While not as intimidating as Flare arrow, anything hit by this one would be fixed with ice. A shot to the hand or foot would make you unable to move, and a direct hit to the body, at best, would completely cover you in frostbite, and at worst, you’d be frozen in place.

I don’t have time to cast a counterspell!

I pulled my short-sword from my waist and dove to the side.

“Running away?!”

The majority of the freeze arrows she released either flew past me, froze the fruit in the street stalls, or formed icicles standing up from the ground. Still, I knew there were some coming toward me. The one I couldn’t dodge, I caught with my sword.

The ice arrow shattered, it’s fragments melting in the summer air. The chill traveled through the grip of my sword to the palm of my hand. It wasn’t a big deal because of my gloves and the leather strap bound around the grip of the sword, but with the cold just now, my hand was stuck to the handle.

“Well, well, weeeell! Oooohohoho! How was that, little girl?! Fleeing was a mistake, now wasn’t it?”

Feeling enthusiastic, Naga fired off her freeze arrows indiscriminately in rapid succession.

It’s not funny!

It’d be easy to counter with a series of fire spells, but the town would definitely get caught up in it. The cold eyes around me, only a few days ago in the town where I first encountered Naga, was enough to teach me a lesson. Yeah, not a good experience. For now, I have no choice but to lure her somewhere with less people, but–

“Ahh!” I clumsily slipped in a puddle and fell.

Damn!

The water was probably from one of Naga’s melted ice arrows.

“Oooohohoho. It seems even with your bad luck, you managed to make it this far.” Basking in her triumph, she calmly drew toward me. Maybe it was because she was drunk in her own victory, but while Naga’s bloodlust swelled up and consumed her, she didn’t notice anything at all. I had plenty chance to escape. For someone watching these events pan out, it must have been pretty entertaining. Me stumbling to the ground, Naga glaring down at me.

“And like this, today I shall put it to rest: The title of strongest sorceress on earth shall be transferred from Lina Inverse, to I, Na–”

Smash!

“Blegh!” Without knowing the reason for the outcry, She collapsed to the ground.

Naga had been smacked in the back of her head by a frozen watermelon.

Needless to say, Victim A in all this was the old fruit vendor, whose goods had been frozen.

“What the hell are you doing?!” She cried clutching her head. There, pressing toward her, were those who had suffered from Naga’s spells: the townsfolk.

“Hee…heeeee…” Now overpowered, Naga stepped backward. The most overbearing, was the old fruit vendor.

“Look what you did to my business! How do you expect me to fix this?!”

The victims surrounded her, all silently nodding in agreement.

…well that’s creepy…

“But—”

“To hell with ‘but!’ For now you’re gonna be working in the kitchen until you can pay us back!”

“But… I just…” Now on the verge of tears, she threw a fleeting glimpse my way.

I don’t care, I don’t care.

I stood up and brushed the dust off my trousers.

“Thank you so much for watching over such a distress-ridden town. And with that, I’ll be off.” I said with a grin. Without giving anyone a chance to object, I turned and walked away. “Well! Work hard while you’re here! Anyway–”

“Hwaa! Forgive me!” With Naga screaming at my back, I quickly put the town behind me.

I wonder if she’ll come after me again..

***

“Oooohohoho! We meet again, Naga the Serpent! The time has come for us to finally settle this battle!”

Round 4 with Naga the Serpent.

As soon as I saw her face I was the one who called out to her. After stealing her usual line, Naga stood there, mouth agape. This time we were in a grove of trees a little ways away from the next town. Here, even if we were firing off blasts, we wouldn’t have to worry about bothering anyone else.

“H-Hmph!” Naga regained her footing and snorted to feign confidence. “Right. That’s what I would’ve said. Me. You may have successfully run away for a third time, but this time I won’t let that happen!”

She calls that running away? Where on earth…

“But you caught up pretty quickly. Did you properly reimburse those people for wrecking their town?” I asked.

“Oh, that. Of course I reimbursed them. As soon as they got some oranges in stock, I froze them with an ice spell and sold it as sherbert. That’s how it was, the idiots!”

“Ohoho! I see! So you had skills like that, huh?” I was thoroughly impressed. “That would certainly sell well… That’s not what we should be focusing on!”

“I know, but…” Naga said timidly.

Actually, at my home back in the country, I was really into commerce. Ever since I was little, because I was driven by monetary gain, my head was always unintentionally turning in the way of business.

“I should give that a try. Well, tell me if you come up with any more new business ideas.” I waved and turned my back to her.

“Sure thing.” Naga waved in return.

. . . . . .

Her mouth twitched.

“Just a minute! That’s not right!”

Yep, she noticed.

“Hmph. As expected of Lina Inverse, you almost got away again.”

“…as expected of anything, you’d usually try and get out of something like this…”

“Silence! Anyway, the time has come for us to settle things!”

I let out a little sigh.

“I guess so. In that case…” Lightly scraping the ground, I widened my stance. “Are you ready? To settle this?”

“Hngh.” Naga groaned a little. The mood was probably putting some pressure on her. But with things like this, neither of us could pull back.

“Freeze Arrow!” Naga released several arrows of ice!

They were all flying right toward me, but the wind barrier around me repelled them.

Naga’s face twitched.

“Well then…” I said with a smile welling up. “Now it’s my turn.”

***

“Mega Brand!”

“Hwaaa!”

Stone came bursting up from directly beneath her, and sent Naga whirling into the air. She fell to the ground right below her, limbs spread out.

Huh. She’s not moving.

Is it over so suddenly? Could it be…?

Naga’s body twitched.

Oh, nope, still alive. Somehow she was able to raise the upper half of her body and glare at me.

“Heh… now you’ve done it, Lina… that’s something I could only expect of someone who calls herself my rival… but it’s not over yet!”

“Gaaah! Don’t say that while you’re lying there refusing to admit you lost! And first of all, you’re the one calling me your rival!”

“You have an excuse for everything, don’t you?”

“I do?!”

“Well if that’s how it is… Damu Brass!”

“How what is?! Ray Wing!” Riding on the wind, I weaved my way between the trees. While still sitting on the ground, Naga indiscriminately began firing off spells. If I were to accidentally get hit by one, it could easily tear through my body. However, with her stance how it is, there are spells that would be impossible for her to cast. Even if I allowed her to recite a few, it’s unlikely that any of them would hit. Leaves scattered, tree trunks smashed apart.

Under these circumstances, I couldn’t get a hit from this end.

But just then, Naga’s attack stopped suddenly.

“hm?”

I touched down on the ground within the overgrowth, peering in the direction of where Naga was. Of course, I didn’t let my guard down. This could be a trap. If I let my face peek out, she could hit me with a rain of attack spells, or plenty of other things.

And then– I saw it.

She was stuck beneath a tree that she had downed with her own spell.

***

“Hey, you alive?” I crouched down beside her. With me egging her on, she raised her head pathetically.

“J…J….” Now that she was practically dying, she somehow gasped back in a soft, thin voice.

“What are you trying to say?” I brought my ear close to Naga’s mouth.

She spoke in a voice that I just barely managed to hear.

“Just for today… I’ll let this slide…”

And then I smacked her across her head.

***

“…n…mph…”

When Naga regained consciousness, we were in a village made up of a single house. Within this doctor’s house, she slept upon a pure white bed.

“You awake?” I said from the chair beside her.

“…Lina? Why…?” She asked. She was mystified, which would make sense.

Up until she lost consciousness, my opponent had been keeping a close watch on her life force draining, but somehow it appeared she had been saved. How could she not be confused?

Well, At the time I had just smacked a dying girl so hard that she stopped moving, so I panicked and carried her here without thinking. But I wasn’t gonna tell her that.

“I lost to you. That’s why I saved you.” I spoke seriously, keeping a straight face.

“…huh?” Naga was completely dumbfounded.

“You… lost?”

“Yeah. I was defeated by your will to keep fighting.” Just like you’d hear in some kind of epic, I used a line that a hero’s rival would use. To someone listening in, it sounded completely unnatural, but the lightheaded girl didn’t notice a thing.

“So… in other words…”

“Yeah…” I gave her a nod. “Today on, the title of Strongest Sorceress in History belongs to you.”

“Lina…” With her eyes blurry, she offered her right hand to me. I gripped it tightly.

…heheheh. Now then…

***

“I’ve found you at last, Naga the Serpent!”

The next time I saw her was in a different town, only a few days later. If this is how it’s going to be, I allowed her to leave the previous village, but that’s when it all really started.

“L-Lina?!” She stood up from her chair in the dining hall, her face bewildered.

I flashed a smile.

“The day has come for me to steal back the title of ‘Strongest!’ Now, I challenge you!”

Twitch. Naga’s face was stiff.

“W-Wait a minute! But that was… I already learned my lesson!”

“Heheheh. No. Use. Arguing.” I raised my middle finger.

I’ve always wanted to do this! A role where I just persistently follow someone around! But in order to have a reason for me to chase her, I had to say all that stuff about losing.

“Hwaaa! Forgive me!”

I followed Naga as she ran away. Now let’s make sure to annoy each other as much as possible~

Naga’s challenge, End.