"Wow…"
"How wonderful…"
"What an ideal couple…"
As we enjoyed dancing together, the end of the song finally came.
After taking a short break from dancing, I smiled at Kaori.
"Thank you, Kaori."
"It's my pleasure."
"Whoaaaah!"
"!?"
The next moment, thunderous applause and cheers echoed from around the room.
We both rolled our eyes in surprise and looked around.
Then we realized that everyone who had been watching our dance was applauding for us.
Feeling a little embarrassed, I looked at Kaori and we both smiled again.
But…
"What's wrong with you?"
Joshua-sama approached us, his eyes flashing with hostility.
"How can you dance like that? You said you can't dance… are you making fun of me?"
"That's not what I meant…"
I managed to utter a reply, but Joshua-sama's anger didn't subside.
"Just as I thought, you're a fraud! A man like him, Kaori──"
"Please stop!"
"!"
Kaori said.
Joshua-sama was surprised and at a loss for words when she interrupted him.
Then Kaori continued.
"Why are you treating Yuuya-san so harshly, Joshua-sama!"
"T-That's because you were deceived by that man…"
"I wasn't deceived! And I told you clearly that I couldn't marry you, Joshua-sama!"
"Ugh…"
Joshua-sama was cornered and tried to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.
Then he looked frustrated, turned away, and left.
"I'm sorry, Yuuya-san…"
"No, thank you for being angry on my behalf."
I suppose I should have been the one to become angry, but… still, I was happy that Kaori was angry on my behalf.
However, the exchange with Joshua-sama had created a delicate atmosphere in the room.
"Damn it… This isn't how it's supposed to be…"
Joshua-sama was about to leave the venue looking unhappy… and that was when…
"Hmm?"
From outside the venue, I detected the sound of a helicopter.
Helicopters were not that rare, so normally, I wouldn't have paid any attention to them.
However, the sound of the helicopter got closer and closer, and before I knew it, it had arrived above the venue.
And then ────.
BANG!
"?"
The sound of the window shattering echoed violently around the venue.
"Kyaaaaaah!"
"W-what the heck is that?!"
The sudden event sent the entire venue into a panic.
Then, a rope came down from the broken window, and a group of armed men dressed in black descended from it at once!
"Wha… Who the hell are you?!"
As Joshua-sama looked at these men in surprise, they quickly overpowered him and took him hostage.
"Yu-Yuuya-san…"
"Don't worry, I'll protect Kaori."
With Kaori behind me, I assessed the situation.
Who on earth were these people?
Each of them were carrying a gun, and the muzzles of the guns were pointed at everyone in the room.
Some people ran to the entrance to try to escape, but to their horror, the men surrounded the entrance as well, completely trapping everyone inside.
What's more, they had taken Joshua-sama hostage.
Then, the man who seemed to be the leader of the armed group raised his voice.
"Don't move! We are the revolutionary army opposing the monarchy! From now on, you are our hostages!"
Anti-monarchy? So you mean to say that they are an organization that was hostile to the state, like royalty like Joshua-sama?
While I was thinking about this, one of the people who had joined the party overheard the leader's words.
"Don't mess with us! Let us go now!"
"Shut up!"
However, as if to suppress such words, the man fired his gun upward as a threat.
At that moment, the participants who had been making a fuss fell silent, trembling.
"Know your place. You will simply obey what we say."
Then, the men ordered us to gather in one place and put our hands behind our heads.
Even if I wanted to escape from this situation, there were too many of them.
If I just wanted to save myself or Kaori, it wouldn't be a problem.
But if I wanted to save everyone else, it was a different story.
There were so many enemies here, and they all had guns. I wonder if I could keep everyone safe…
Furthermore, Joshua-sama was taken hostage separately from the rest of us, which made the rescue even more difficult.
However, I don't intend to stay like this.
I must find a way to exploit a weakness somehow…
While I was thinking about it, one of the men pointing a gun at us opened his mouth.
"Leader, what should we do from here? We've captured the first prince, who was our top priority…"
"We will extort a ransom from the parents of these people."
"Will they just obediently hand over the money?"
"If they don't give it to us, we'll just kill them. There are so many of them."
"That's right. If you want to live, you'll have to beg your parents to pay, okay?"
"…Who would pay you…?"
"That's right! You'll get caught soon anyway!"
The participants all said this, but the men laughed.
"I wonder if that's true?"
"What?"
"By now, our people must be in the process of overthrowing the kings. In other words, the country is probably too busy with that to worry about us. You should give up that easy hope."
"No way…"
"Even if that's the case, we have no money to pay terrorists like you!"
In the middle of this, a participant makes a strong statement.
Then, it seems that the comment was picked up by the Revolutionary Army.
"These idiots still don't seem to understand their position…"
"Leader, why don't we just kill them as an example?"
"Yes, let's get rid of one."
The moment the leader made his decision, his subordinate pointed his gun at us.
And unfortunately, the muzzle was pointed at Kaori!
"Wha?!"
"Then you'll be the first."
Then, the man under his command tightened his grip on the trigger.
There's no time to watch what's going on!
I moved immediately and kicked the man's hand.
The kick broke the man's hand.
"Gyaaaaaaah!"
"Wha, you!"
"──Heavenly Whip!"
I took out my Heavenly Whip from my Item Box and swung it with all my might.
I didn't want to use a weapon from another world in a place like this, but I thought that if things were as they were and I used my full power, my movements would be too fast for the average person to see properly.
The next moment, the Heavenly Whip branched into countless branches and wrapped itself around the guns the men were holding.
"Huft!"
"My gun?"
Then, all at once, I drew the Heavenly Whip toward me, and all the weapons were smashed and broken.
The men were surprised by the sudden turn of events.
But I wasn't one to let this opportunity pass by…!
"Haaah!"
I closed the distance to the men in an instant and then unleashed kicks and slashes, cutting off their consciousness.
In this way, I was able to subdue all of the men who had their guns pointed at us.
The sight left the partygoers speechless.
"W-w-what the hell is going on…?"
"Amazing… He really is a hero…"
It seemed that everyone in the venue realized that I had subdued the men, but I had no regrets.
I'll just say that I practiced martial arts and get out of it.
Anyway, even though everyone was released, Joshua-sama was still being held captive.
Joshua-sama was targeted as he was about to leave the venue, and so he ended up being taken hostage by himself in a place far away from us.
"Hyiii! H-help me too!"
Joshua-sama, who was taken hostage, shouted in my direction.
He seemed confused by the sudden turn of events.
"W-what happened?!"
The man who had taken Joshua-sama hostage was also wide-eyed at the sudden turn of events as his comrades were all overpowered at once.
Taking advantage of the man's confusion, I closed the distance to the last man and kicked him in the stomach while grabbing Joshua-sama out of his hand.
"Gaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Joshua-sama, are you okay?"
"Eh, ah, yeah…"
Joshua-sama was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
But…
"Huh? Wait, this is crazy! Who are you? What have you done?"
"Well, I, uh… I-I know a little bit about martial arts…"
"Martial arts?! That's not going to convince me! Just answer!"
Although the director was satisfied with this explanation, it didn't go down well with Joshua-sama.
While I was somehow managing to deal with Joshua-sama's questioning, the police and special forces finally arrived.
"Don't move!"
"Your companions have already been arrested… Huh?"
"W-what in the world is going on here…?"
Then, the special forces personnel were confused by the scene in front of them.
Apparently, the revolutionaries who had gone to confront the king had been successfully dealt with.
"What in the world happened here…?"
"Let's take these men into custody for now!"
The members of the special forces, though confused, hurriedly went to arrest the men.
While I was watching the scene, the special forces members came running over.
"Yuuya-san!"
"Kaori, are you okay?"
When I called out to her, Kaori replied.
"Yes! Thanks to Yuuya-san, I'm fine!"
"I see… I'm glad to hear that."
As I said this, smiling, Kaori's cheeks turned red.
"Well… I guess I was saved again."
"Eh? Oh… I guess that's how it is, isn't it?"
I gave a vague answer that was hard to interpret, and Kaori laughed in amusement.
"Fufu… that's so like Yuuya-san."
"Hahaha… well, I'm just glad it all worked out."
It really was a day when I got into all kinds of trouble…
At that time, I didn't realize that Joshua-sama was watching us while we were talking like this.
In any case, we managed to escape the terrorists' threat without incident.