I was a Nerfed Hero in Another World

"Come on, ladies. You know I can't hit a girl…." I squealed, while waving my hands.

Despite my warnings, Fenrir and Match rushed towards me with outmatched speed. Fenrir zoomed in and enjoyed the lightning towards me, with her claws aiming for my neck. With those moves, she wanted to kill me.

But it was not Fenrir who wished to hurt me. It was that bard, claiming that I was a knight who he knew from before.

Thankfully, my Clarent boosted my senses and helped me dodged the bullet from Fenrir. However, I shielded my shoulders because of that and ended up wounding my arm.

The injury was not deep compared to what I had with the king. And if the situation became shaky, I could always drink a potion I made to heal myself up.

However, before I could do anything like that, I needed to wake Fenrir and Merleen up while defending myself from their attacks.

And that was the trickiest part of this battle. I did not know what to do about these two women fighting me. It would be better if Merleen and Fenrir were fighting for me, not with me!

I brushed those thoughts aside and focused on the clash at my fore. Thanks to the heightened senses my sword gave me, I could maintain eluding the attacks as long as I could sense Fenrir.

I did not have the strongest skills, but I could stand on my own ground. And since I was up against someone I knew, this fight almost became a spar... Well, if it were not for Fenrir's killing intentions, it would have looked like that.

But before I could gasp some air, a glimmer of light travelled at Fenrir's side towards me. Fortunately, that beam of light missed attacking my figure. I did not know if the attack missed because of my movements or Merleen's shaking hands. It almost made me think Merleen tried fighting the spell inside her head. Hence her hands avoiding my figure.

"Two against one, bard! You know I'm going to lose!" I exclaimed, but my words meant nothing to the bard. "Hey! I am not the guy you're looking for, man!"

"I can never be tricked by a knight like you! You are a soldier for yourself, not for the people. You kill because you have the power. And when that power crumbles, you listen to no man and do what you think is fun," the bard spoke his bitter words, while grinning in my direction. "Now that you're dancing at the palm of my hand, let's see who would have the last laugh!"

'This guy has a screw loose!' my mind screamed, praying for the deities of Magique.

I cannot attack the bard head-on, since Fenrir and Merleen guarded his body. But if I could find an opportunity, I needed to knock him down and end this nonsense.

As I averted my eyes from the bard, Merleen shot another light beam in my direction, with Fenrir jolting at the side. Since the light was the fastest thing I knew, I tried using my dark energy and counter it. Thanks to the obsidian matter, the light did not pass through me. If I had been a second later, that luminance would have sliced through me.

Within a few moments, Merleen raised her hands and tried again. I readied my sword and activated the dark energy again. However, nothing came as the seconds passed by.

The magic circle never appeared in front of her hands, despite channelling her focus in front of her. As I squinted my eyes, Merleen kept shaking her hands, with sweats dripping on her face. Even though she had not said anything to me, Merleen struggled to fight against the spell. I wanted to tell her she was doing right, but Fenrir appeared on my flank.

Thanks to Merleen buying me some time, I rolled to the side and evaded Fenrir's pounce. She rolled straight behind me but afterwards regained her balance. That wolf girl stood like a mad dog, growling at me with intense hatred. I could only gulp my saliva down, wishing that the spell would eventually wear off.

As the battle prolonged, the bard's face looked pale and swollen. It was as if the arcane placed on his harp took a toll on the bard's body. That man was even gasping for air as soon as he played his instrument.

I seized my chance and headed straight towards the musician. That bard expected this outcome, knowing that this was his time of weakness. The poet called forth the two women at his side to defend him. However, I already knew he was going to do that.

I used my dark energy to press Mereen back while smacking Fenrir's back using the pommel of my sword. Both of the girls got pushed away from my attack as I reached the bard.

The bard tried to defend his harp more than his face. But I already knew that weapon was the lifeline of his class. And I destroyed that instrument, the bard would have no other choice but to wallow in agony. If he regained his composure, that bard would have to travel around the kingdoms and fix his destroyed weapon.

"Checkmate!"

"You win! I-I will deactivate the spell right now!"

Before I could strike my Clarent's pommel at the bard, I changed my body's course and deliberately missed my attack. The bard had no other choice but to lift the hypnotizing spell from the two girls, vowing that he would never repeat that.

As soon as the bard deactivated the spell, both Fenrir and Merleen fell on the ground. A sudden thudding sound resonated from behind, which came from the two women.

I rushed towards their aid and checked their conditions, hoping that the two girls were okay. Fortunately, none of them got hurt even after taking a hit from the hypnotic spell.

"Are you sure there are no side effects, Mr. bard?" I asked.

"Yes. The only side effect they would have is they would forget what happened when they got affected by my spell. They would feel a little lost after deactivating the spell. But that confusion after a few seconds," the bard explained. "You said you're not one of the twelve knights of the round table? How sure are you that you're not one of them?"

"Don't get me wrong. I also hunt down powerful knights that are stronger than me. And right now, you're sitting at that throne, knight," the bard continued.

"I have a name," I answered. "And the name's Arthur. What's yours, bard?"

"Are you going to forgive that asshole who controlled our minds and killed you? Shouldn't we be worried about this scum who could manipulate people out of their will?"

As soon as Fenrir regained her senses, she stood up and exclaimed those words. I could not help but look into her eyes since she had a point.

"However, there were some points that I wanted to know. And it could only be answered through peace without fighting anyone," I said, while looking at the bard. "And compared to the knights before us, this bard is alone. He even said that the knights took away someone dear to him. I can't just hurt or kill someone like that?"

A world of silence filled the air as Fenrir heard my response. She did not want to retort at my words. So she stormed off towards the carriage and waited for me.

"You're so kind to others! I'm just worried that kindness would bite back after you." Those were the last words Fenrir exclaimed, before nestling inside the caravan.

I let her be since she had been through a lot lately. Fenrir was the only one who had motion sickness throughout this lengthy trip. She also had been vomiting everything she ate before this fight happened.

I could only guess that her abdomen continued making a scene right now, hoping to receive some nourishment.

Merleen did not say a word and listened to the conversation. Although she voiced out earlier that she was not a fan of hypnotic spells, Merleen did not mind that fight at all. She told me that as long as she did not hurt me, everything was okay.

The bard cleared his throat and continued his sentence, "My apologies, Arthur, for attacking your carriage without checking your identity. If only I did that, this would not have happened."

"It's okay," I answered. "Nobody got hurt. That's the most important thing. By the way, you haven't said your name yet."

The bard bent his knees and introduced himself to Merleen and me," My name is Meliodas. And I am just a wandering bard seeking vengeance against the knights who killed my unc…..father's son."

"I'm sorry to hear that your brother died," I mumbled.

"My brother?" the bard asked, but immediately corrected himself. "Yes...my brother. Some knights came inside my father's house and killed his son...my brother. And when he dies of old age, I am going on a quest to kill those bastards who took away my brother's life!"