Editor Note: Changing Miss to Mistress because it fits better with the conversationAnd we have the usual excuses corner! Well, no excuses this time, but I do have an announcement to make, which you'll see at the end of this part.

TL: Well, no comment for me but, please take a look at the sidebar of this website. You can know the progress of the part of the translation.

Enjoy~ 

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"This 'Mistress' of yours, are you talking about Dia?"

Thanks to the help of the manager and Ryn, I could finish work early. During the time while I was waiting for my break, I sat on the same table with Radiant, facing her directly. Her companions stood behind me, not giving me any room to escape.

The 'Mistress' she mentioned definitely isn't Franruhle since I've confirmed that with Palinchron before this. That's why Dia popped up. Dia is probably the only one left since I still doubt myself about Dia's gender.

"Dia, who? No, she's not. Our Mistress is Lastiara"

Oh wow, that's a surprise.

From what I know, n.o.body has the same name as her.

"Lastiara… ah, is she perhaps the labyrinth explorer I met?"

I remember her. She helped me out on the first day when I came to this world. My first impression of her is that she's scary. She also invaded my room at the inn where I stayed. She beat me up with her magic. What a bad girl. I admit that she helped me when I was in the labyrinth but, since she apparently has ulterior motives, I don't want to get involved with her again.

Compared to Alty and Franruhle, Lastiara is the more dangerous one. So, my current predicament is because of her?

Ugh…

"What? Labyrinth? So you actually abducted the Mistress? You insolent little—!"

"Wait, me? I kidnapped Lastiara?"

"Yes! When our Mistress disappeared she left behind a letter, the content of which mentioned you, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! She decided to elope with you, b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

(ED: Yeah she said b.a.s.t.a.r.d twice)

"Eh?! Elope?!"

Nope, no such thing happened. I haven't even seen Lastiara for a long time. They're just accusing me now.

With my current level, the next time I meet her, I'll definitely make sure to beat her up. For now, I'll have to settle things with Radiant first. I'll deal with Lastiara later.

"Argh! Our mistress! Mistress! Our pure-hearted mistress. She's our holy mistress but then, she met you inside the labyrinth and, and, we don't know what you did to her that she'd always talk about you. To us, the Seven Celestial Knights! It was every day, day by day, each and every day! Do you have any idea how we felt?! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, someone like you would never know how we feel, you son of a b.i.t.c.h!"

(ED: ಠ_ಠ)

"Calm down. Here, have some water."

"This isn't the time to drink, b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Well? Will you tell us where our mistress is now?!"

"Like I said, I don't know. I haven't seen her around recently. What's written in the letter is likely a lie. Maybe it's just a prank? Maybe she had you all fooled."

Honestly, she does seem like the type of person who's fond of pulling pranks. I feel sorry for Radiant; no matter how angry she gets at me, nothing will happen.

"Fu, fufufu, ufufufu… Our mistress played a prank on us? She ran away from home then? There's no way she'll do that, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You just want to get your a.s.s kicked by me when you said that, right? That's why I challenge you to a duel! I will beat you up. After you die, we'll just take our time to look for her"

"Ehh? But, I don't have a reason to accept your challenge…"

"If you don't take my challenge, wherever you go, we, the Seven Celestial Knights, will stalk you until we find her"

(ED: ಠ_ಠ)

"Even if you stalk me, you won't find her since I'm not with her. If you're that persistent, why don't you just come and look for her in my house? She definitely won't be there."

This talk isn't getting us anywhere

I don't know what really happened, but it looks like Lastiara intentionally made me out to be the culprit for her disappearance.

I'm fine if it's just this time, but if they do stalk me then it would be really troublesome. I just want to gather more information and, for now, raise Maria's level. I have a feeling that they will stalk me all the way inside the labyrinth.

So, I weigh out the pros and cons, and I end up thinking that it's not such a bad idea to have a duel with her here and now. Since my level has risen considerably, the risk of fighting an opponent like her is low.

"I understand. Let's have a duel. If I lose, I'll tell you everything. I don't know where Lastiara is, but I'll cooperate with you to find her."

"You finally give up? No, did you realize your mistake? Now, prepare yourself to be beheaded by me!"

"No, I'm not asking for you to kill me. I accepted your challenge for this duel, but on a condition. First, heavy injuries are prohibited. Second, killing your opponent is your loss. Third, we must accept surrenders from our opponent. A peaceful bout is for the best."

"… … … … Ugh, fine! Honestly, I don't like killing too. But I'll beat you up until you admit to your sins!"

She said that she doesn't like killing, but what was she going on earlier about killing me?

"And, if I win, don't show your face in front of me again."

"I don't mind, but I'll tell you this, the duel is only between us, one on one!"

"Yes that's what I intended."

"I like your resolve! Fufu, let's go outside the bar."

After she said that, her companions, the other knights who were standing behind me, made their way outside.

I stand up and walk outside as well.

I feel that many people are worried about me. The waitress of the bar, Ryn, worriedly speaks to me.

"Sieg! Will you be okay?"

"It'll be alright, Ryn. I placed conditions for this duel. Even in the worst case, I shouldn't be killed."

To calm the patrons and the manager, I smile.

"Even so, you have to take good care of yourself, Sieg…"

… Ryn is really worrying about me.

I think this duel isn't going to be that bad.

Because I'm able to defeat a guardian, Tidus, who has never been defeated by anybody from the human race before, I should have an advantage in this duel.

My opponent in this fight is only a beastman who's around level 20. Also, to prevent the worst case scenario, I placed conditions for this duel to avoid both of us getting killed. In addition, I'll be able to determine how strong I am with this duel. I use [Observe] on her and compared our status.

My current level is around half of Radiant's level. To catch up with that, I'll have to use [Dimension] to bridge the gap.

On top of that, I have new magic I want to try. So let's just think about the benefits of this fight. Radiant already came to me, so I'll just use her well.

"This place will do, Radiant."

I decided on the location. It's the bar's backyard.

We point our swords at each other and make an oath for the duel.

And start—

"—Magic [Gladiate Dimension]. Magic [Foam]"

I cast a spell to expand my senses in battle, and then release bubbles that floated around my sword.

I've wanted to try [Foam] in battle for a while now. When Maria and I explored the labyrinth together, I've tried several ways to use this magic. I tried to use it with [Dimension], and thanks to it, I realized that using the former alone wasn't effective in any way.

However, using it together with other spells is a different story.

With [Gladiate Dimension] in effect, the bubbles become additional sets of eyes for me to see the field better.

However, when Radiant saw what I did, she just laughed.

"Strengthening magic, huh? It looks like it won't hinder me too much in this battle. Whatever it is, it's futile before my Holy magic."

As she said that, Radiant cast a spell of her own.

"—[Growth]"

A bright aura covers her body. It's similar to the magic Dia uses. Are they perhaps from the same place?

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Editor's Note: Okay, so here it is. I decided on a schedule for releasing chapters. Why? Because for one, as a fellow reader like you are as well, I think it's better if I know when chapters are to be released instead of smas.h.i.+ng F5 on NovelUpdates every few… days or so (which I have been doing for Release That Witch… it's honestly unhealthy I'm already having withdrawal symptoms). Secondly, it's because of how me and Bluestar work together with these chapters. Well, by that I mean, he just throws all these chapters at me (I have a backlog of them now lol) and I edit them whenever I get the chance. But the backlog is quite justified I guess, since he mentioned he might go awol again for a week or so, so even with that I'll still be able to post chapters regardless of his absence.

Anyway, the schedule is now every Tuesday and Sat.u.r.day at midnight, GMT+8 (or around that time, since until Bluestar goes, I'll be relying on him to post the chapters). Since we're only two people at the moment, the updates will rotate between this and Arcadia=Garden. Yes that means next update will be the latter's chapter 1 part 2.

To end, please read Falling In-Love with the Villainess! It's really good!