<Episode 43>
“……Yes?”
What did that person just say?
It seemed like a long monologue had passed, but in the end, I was shocked by what the man, presumed to be Mariette’s stalker, said as if making a decision and I asked back in a daze.
It’s hard to believe that the king of Nisha loved the villainess from the original, but what was this situation?
“I had no intention of taking a woman into my harem and having offsprings with her, so I will pass on the throne of Nisha to you. Nisha is a closed country with no official external exchanges, so… If you change your hair and eye color, your identity won’t be revealed or spread to the outside world.”
Whether I agreed or not, Riat spoke freely and came to a conclusion.
“You wouldn’t want to live next to the bastard who is your biological father, right?”
“………”
And those words were true, so I’m speechless.
“Now then, let’s handle the original request.”
what?!
I quickly raised my head as Riat said muttered something.
Siii–
“Ugh!”
“Ashamed!”
In the blink of an eye, a black line flew out and wrapped around Ashamed’s neck like a living snake.
“I’ll take care of him and come back to you, so just wait a moment.”1He is no better than Robrick :-(
Riat mumbled without thinking as he tied the rope like thing around Ashamed’s neck and dragged the small child away.
“W-what are you trying to do!”
Regardless of whether he loved Mariette or not, that person was definitely crazy!
Although I stumbled, I managed to stand up and urgently blocked Riat’s path.
“Why are you doing that?”
Riat looked down at me with a puzzled expression.
…Are you asking because you really don’t know why I’m doing this?
I stared at Ashamed, whose face was contorted as if in pain, then looked up at Riat and shook my head.
“Ah…”
Only then did Riat let out an exclamation as if he understood.
“Are you doing this because of your engagement to the 2nd prince of the Roshan Empire? If that’s the case, it doesn’t matter. Because there is no need to maintain the marriage contract any longer. You probably didn’t want it anyway.”
He said with a smooth smile.
“Let me clean him up for you.”
“It matters!”
Are you crazy! I screamed and glared at him.
Was he sane?
How can you say something about killing a child so calmly?
Even if this man had loved my mother desperately in the past, would that give him the right to kidnap me, drag.me away, and decide how I should be treated?
He never once asked for my opinion, and was just talking about his own feelings and thoughts.
⋯Wasn’t he just an arrogant and rude person?
“Ashamed is my friend and the companion chosen by the Spirit Kings. I had no intention of following you in the first place, but if you kill Ashamed here, I won’t follow you, even if it means throwing myself down the window!”
I shouted in a strong tone.
Hearing that, Riat’s sunken eye slightly shook.
Although I had only met him for a short time, I knew enough about him.
It was an intuition I felt from the moment we first met.
Those who are close to death, have a unique cold and fishy life.
Riat was not a person with a normal way of thinking.
Even if I convey my meaning in ordinary speech, instead of understanding it, he will interpret it with all kinds of reasons and try to get it in his own way.
So, I have to go too extreme to get to his head.
“… That’s difficult.”
I guess he at least seemed to understand it a little bit.
“Ha….”
Riat sighed deeply and stroked his bangs.
“Edith……”
Ashamed looked up at me with an agitated face.
I looked down at Ashamed and nodded slightly.
It’s okay, it’ll be okay.
“Okay.”
Riat spoke as if he was still sighing.
“Then I guess I’ll have no choice but to take the prince with us. I’ll go out for a bit, so wait for me.”
Riat finally lifted the dark rope around Ashamed’s neck.
“…..kah”
Ashamed, who was freed from the rope, let out a small moan and wrapped his hands around his neck.
Was he hurt? I hurriedly sat down and looked at Ashamed.
Sigh–
Riat got out of the room and left us behind.
Click
The door to the red room closed, leaving only the two of us in the quiet room.
“……..”
I looked at the closed door with a feeling of despair welling up in my chest.
“What do we do…….”
I couldn’t think of any way to escape from that man’s grasp.
The future was as dark as a starless night.
***
At the border between the Nisha and Roshan Empires.
Thee wasa dense forest, shrouded in the darkness of the night and seemed like a trap in itself.
Riat appeared outside a mansion, where soft light was leaking, and gave orders to his subordinates who bowed to him.
There was someone who was staring at the image as if it were engraved on their cornea, without missing a single detail.
“……..”
In the light shining from the window of the mansion, the golden hair flowing down from under the hem of the white robe sparkled.
‘Meinhard Ciel Astrape. There is only one command you must remember now.‘
A pale, expressionless face flashed through his memory.
‘Protect the child I will leave behind.’
“You said you wouldn’t mind leaving the child to Roberick as long as he could protect her and that would be her fate.”
Meinhard muttered lowly.
As if he didn’t like it, his once flawless and beautiful eyebrows were distorted.
“But I don’t know. The result of that choice is just like this.”
Meinhardt stood up with both feet on the branch of the old tree where he was sitting as if he were riding on the back of a tamed horse.
<What’s taking so much time? Didn’t you get how many troops there were?>
The golden artifact he wore on one ear transmitted a voice with a crackling friction sound.
Meinhardt opened his mouth while pressing the artifact to correct the flow of current.
“They seem to be around forty or fifty. It is judged that there are no significant unexpected factors.”
Then Meinhardt chanted the Spirit King’s name in his mouth in an attempt to regain his energy even a little.
“Come out the moment I give the signal.”
At the same time, the hem of the white robe was blowing in the wind.
“[Astrape]!”
Crickle–
The moment when the name of the Spirit King of Electricity was embodied in sound –
Kiiii-!
Dazzling golden lightning burst out from his hands in multiple directions.
“It’s an attack!”
A sudden flash of light blinded people and mercilessly ruptured the ground.
“What?!”
They was taken aback for a moment.
But Nisha’s spirit warriors were not rookies whose ranks could be disrupted by a surprise attack like this.
“……..”
Meinhardt was soon surrounded by Riat’s men.
“If you don’t want to be crawling on the ground with both legs cut off, show your face right now.”
Despite the cold threat, Meinhardt did not respond and remained silent.
“This bastard…!”
At that moment the man, who did not get a reply despite the threat and was chewing his lip as if he had made a mistake, stretched out his hand towards Meinhardt.
Tak!
“……!”
The man looked distantly at his hand, which flew away before his eyes.
It was caused by a thorn.
Traces of the man’s blood were dripping down the trunk of a huge thorn tree that had sprouted from the ground, unknown when it had grown.
The moment he realized the situation, he felt intense pain.
“Aghh..”
The man groaned in fear and grabbed his empty wrist.
“Why is this little guy, no older than a puppy, making noise?”
The voice of a noble woman, elegantly preserved over time, came from beyond the darkness.
“Is it finally starting?”
Another voice was also heard.
As expected, it was a gruff voice that was presumed to be that of an old man.
Meinhardt looked back at the several figures that appeared with eyes full of respect.
“Thank you for your immense patience.”
He replied quietly and stepped aside.
“Yes, my body ached and I thought I was going to die.”
“Let’s give it a try. How long has it been since we all attacked together like this?”
Even though there was a violent atmosphere flowing, calm voices exchanged words.
Tuk–
Under the golden light flashing next to Meinhardt, the appearance of a familiar old man was clearly revealed.
“It’s been well over 50 years.”
The old man answered softly.
“Your Excellency Duke Bastevan.”2Oh grandfather the hero(・o・).
Meinhardt immediately bowed his head deeply and greeted.
The pupils staring at Meinhardt, whose head was bowed, had a brilliant golden color.
The old man, Siorne Archaitz Bastevan, pulled out the two-handed sword that was strapped to his back and muttered in a murderous tone.
“The guys who kidnapped my granddaughter-”
A huge sword that was thought to be incapable of being lifted by an old man well over sixty cut roughly through the air.
Bang~!
A strong sound blew as if there was a storm, and the densely grown trees were torn apart as if disintegrating.
Shiorn’s voice came from behind those who were looking back at the scene in bewilderment.
“Not a single one will make it home alive today.”3Now, we know where Mariette’s personality came from..
Siorn glared at them with eyes shining like the only sun in the darkness.
***
Bang~!
“What……?”
There was a commotion outside.
A sound like dozens of trees snapping and collapsing.
“Ugh!”
“Where did these people come from?”
Judging by the occasional sound of swords clashing with each other and the vibrations that shook the ground, it looked like a fight had broken out.
“What’s going on….”
I muttered under my breath out of anxiety and looked back at Ashamed.
Likewise, Ashamed, who was looking up at the window showing the dark night sky with a serious expression, also turned to me.
Tik, tuk.
At that moment, a noise was heard outside the door where there was only silence.
Ashamed and I exchanged looks.
An unknown person was approaching the room we were trapped in.
The sound of that person steps was light. I felt it belonged to a woman rather than a man.
At that moment, I was in a cold sweat as I was approached by someone whose identity I could not guess.
Click–
“Oh, you are here.”
The door opened and the person who walked into the room smiling calmly was, surprisingly, an old woman with gray hair.
“It’s not a good situation for this, but for now, it’s nice to meet you, babies.”
The grandmother was wearing a dress with a similar shape to a pure white robe with a v shaped neckline. I don’t know what its original color was, but her white hair was neatly braided with silvery-grey hair mixed in here and there, and decorated with an antique amber-colored hairpin.
The clear blue eyes on her face, stained with time, stared at us and shone with a bright light.
“……Who are you?”
I don’t think she’s Riat’s subordinate…
In response to the question I hesitantly asked, the unknown grandmother smiled and waved her hand.
“Uh?!”
At that moment, a strange sensation enveloped my entire body, then my breathing, which had been strangely blocked and suffocating, was relieved.
“…The artifact that suppressed our mana has stopped working.”
“What?!”
When Ashamed muttered these words softly, I was so startled that I closed my eyes again and focused on the feeling inside my body.
“…It’s true.”
The feeling of tightness that I had no idea how I had endured for so long completely disappeared.
A faint yet throbbing sensation that I had not noticed before because I was so used to it was just swimming vigorously through my whole body.
“Now it will be possible to summon spirits.”
…That’s a result of that old lady doing.
How could she neutralize the artifact implanted in our body with just a single wave of her hand?
“I won’t answer any questions because I’m busy. Get up now, we have to leave quickly.”
Although I was confused and had doubts, the grandmother’s eyes, which looked down at us as she approached us, didn’t seem didn’t seem to have any malice or intrigue in them.
“Let’s go, Ashamed.”
…..At least it’s better than being constantly held captive by a stalker kidnapper.
Ashamed and I ran out of the boring room, following the old woman.
As I walked out the door, thick darkness unfolded.
The hallway without a single candle lit was indistinguishable from the night itself.
“Come on, let’s go.”
In the large hallway, only the sound of Ashamed’s and my small footsteps as well as the sound of our heels clashing, quietly echoed.
Should I summon Naiad or Oried?
In the eerie atmosphere of war, my mind was filled with such concerns.
“It’s the way to outside….”
After walking endlessly through the dark hallway with all the lights off, we finally reached the exit of the mansion.
⋯⋯Wait a minute. Shouldn’t Riat be outside right now?
The moment I looked up, biting my lip due to rising anxiety –
Boom bang bang!
“……Uh?”
An overwhelming sight unfolded before my eyes, making it meaningless to worry about who to summon.
“Kwaaaaak-!”
“You crazy old men!”
Golden thunderbolts were pouring down from the sky.
Those who appeared to be Riat’s minions were wielding the same black shimmering moon swords they had seen when we were kidnapped, and were trying their best to destroy the thunderbolts pouring down like rain and the huge wooden pillars that were crashing down on the ground like a giant’s hand.
After struggling for a long time, the attack was neutralized by cutting it down with the black swords.
“Where are you running away to?”
White hair, a thin body.
The grandfather, whose face was full of wrinkles but who also had a fearsome spirit that made your spine tingle just by looking at him, appeared with a clear voice.
“Kyaah…”
“Ah, I can’t move my body!”
Riat’s minions were held down by an invisible force.
“Gravity……?”
It was as if they were being held down by a huge force of gravity, making them unable to take a single step from that spot.
I pursed my lips absent-mindedly.
“……grandfather……?”
He was in the middle of a chaos where an ordinary person would not be able to survive even for a moment.
Well, an ordinary person would not be able to lift a huge two-handed sword that was as wide as three adult men’s forearms and long enough to easily exceed the height of a decent man, but he was lifting it with one hand.
“Hold on as much as you can even if your joints hurt, Siorne! I’ll heal you right away!”
A gentle-looking grandfather with almost white blond hair hanging down to his feet gave the power of dazzling light and called out the name of the old man holding the sword.
“Why don’t you move quickly!”
The grandfather, who was holding Riat’s men in one place, shouted and urged him on.
“You won’t get hurt with something like this! And you should stop babbling your mouth-”
And the old man kicked off the ground and jumped up, holding down the black moon sword with the power to eat everything in an instant and cut it down.
“Shut up!”
Under the brilliant trail of light, all darkness disappeared without even leaving a trace.
***
TL Note:
Hello everyone,
Sorry for the late updates lately, a loooot of things happened, but I won’t bore you with my life, so in conclusion in the next few days there will be a mass updates to catch up with the delayed chapters…
This is the first chapter and there are still 8 left, break a leg,ᕙ[･･]ᕗ me!!
This one is an extra as an apology and the rest will be the original chapters that should have been released before.
Thank you for the chapters!
Thank you for your continuous support, helloworld15