Chapter 311
Chapter 311
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.66 – Knights and the Bonfire Night (1)
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“...”
In this place, on the battlefield, a silence had fallen.
It was only natural.
What did I just see?
A demon? No, the demon isn't the issue... The descent of a saint?
...
Who could remain sane after witnessing such a sight?
Even the horses and other animals were silent, and the magical beasts were holding their breath. Who could possibly move?
It was as if those witnessing the first descent of a legendary saint were reacting this way.
However...
“What are you all doing?”
“C-Commander?”
“When did the battle end?”
“Pardon...?”
“The fight isn't over yet. If those magical beasts reach the surface, dozens of cities will fall that very day! Get your heads straight and attack! It's not over!”
“!!!”
The veteran knight's seasoned aura snapped them out of their daze in an instant, triggering a chain reaction that shook not only Mordred's knights but the other orders as well.
Yes, it wasn't over yet.
Though half the magical beasts had vanished, more than 300,000 still remained.
And what catastrophe would unfold if they broke through to the surface was obvious.
“Wipe out the magical beasts!”
“Don't let a single one escape!!”
Dudududu!!
Once more, the knights charged with resounding force into the dazed horde of magical beasts.
One might call it cowardly...
“It's fine to be cowardly against filthy beasts!”
Chivalry didn't apply to magical beasts—that was common sense among knights.
Splash!
Their eyes wide open as their throats were slit, the magical beasts snapped back to their senses amid the scent of blood and resumed their bloody clash with the knights.
Even as the battle raged on...
Rustle.
“...It certainly steals one's gaze.”
He let out a hollow chuckle while gazing at the petals falling against the scorched sky.
Truly,
“What an astonishing young man, haha.”
The veteran knight realized that the young man's earlier declaration of facing the evil spirit alone had been no joke.
...He had proven it himself, after all. How could one not believe it?
Wonder where this young man came from. I could really use someone like him.
“-I don't know who's eyeing him, but after going to the trouble of sparing him, don't go after someone else's...! Tsk.”
Was she sensitive to those coveting what was hers?
Atop the walls, the princess glared at the veteran knight with half-lidded eyes.
Isis tapped her fingers, displeased.
At that moment,
“You're speaking nonsense, Your Highness. He's not yours anyway.”
“Hmph, finder keepers.”
“Goodness, you haven't changed since the old days. So greedy...”
“Marquis, do you want to fight me?”
“Of course not, haha.”
“...”
“I'm just saying he seems too harshly treated compared to the attention you're giving him, Your Highness. Don't misunderstand.”
“...Your words sound fine, but you're toying with me, Marquis.”
“I have no idea what you mean, Your Highness.”
“...”
Isis's fine brows finally furrowed at the red-haired middle-aged man's playful remark.
She just didn't like him, that's all.
“Jenimia, you're still as mischievous as ever. You used to tease Isis like that when she was young.”
“Haha! It's been so long since we met, Prince—er, Your Grace.”
“...When did that old title come back?”
“Oops, my apologies. Duke.”
“...You're still as mischievous.”
The young-looking man had casually used Isis's name, despite being the youngest among those gathered—still, toward the heir of a kingdom.
Yet no one took issue with it.
His status aside, he was someone even the current king couldn't casually address.
Isis acknowledged this too, merely glancing at him without complaint.
“...Uncle, what's this? Siding with her?”
Isis asked Blake, lord of Galahad, who replied without turning his gaze forward.
“You used to call me big brother back then. Not anymore?”
A crooked answer.
“Hmph, take your complaints about titles to our tangled family tree, Uncle. And I never called you 'big brother' even as a child—it was too embarrassing.”
“...Good memory.”
“Seems you've got early dementia, Uncle.”
“Hm, yes, your bad habits remain.”
The bickering pair suited the term “rival siblings” perfectly. They looked like immature teens or young adults in their twenties, but considering they were royals descended from the dragon lineage that retained youth past a hundred, and the man was the elder, it was quite the unsightly sight.
Perhaps their cousin relationship allowed such dynamics regardless of age.
Regardless of their squabble,
“Regrettable. I should have brought him north at our first meeting.”
One man remained lost in admiration, gazing at the lotus.
Grand Duke Lionel, Magnus, the great king of the north, felt deep regret while staring at the flower he had bloomed.
If he had taken that one north then, perhaps the flower would have bloomed there instead of the south.
However, such words drew
“Nonsense!”
“What nonsense.”
Fierce reactions from the two royals. Magnus glanced at them slyly,
“Hm, cousins or not, same blood shows in their similarities.”
“...Don't say disgusting things, Grand Duke.”
“Want to fight, Magnus?”
Provocation upon provocation, and the verbal sparring resumed.
One might doubt if this was how the kingdom's top powers conversed, but Jenimia shrugged it off familiarly.
High nobles always devolved meetings into bickering from start to finish.
“What a state the kingdom's in. Don't you think, Duke Iliad?”
“Hm, weren't you the one who started it, Marquis?”
Iliad, who had stayed silent amid the power struggle, gave a wry smile and countered.
“Haha! I backed off appropriately.”
p>“Lady said Marquis Jenimia was quite the prankster, and now I see why.”
“Even the Sword Duke would say no one's truly mature. Lucky there's someone who still treats me like a kid, heh.”
“...More importantly, don't we need to join in?”
Iliad asked instead of joking further.
Wasn't it proper for them to fight alongside in this battle?
It was a natural question.
Just occupying space while leaving the fighting to the knights felt frustrating, hands itching.
“Haha, I'd love to, but this is the knights' stage, right? If that demon-like thing reappeared, sure, but it ended without us or them needing to step in. Feels like we came for nothing—overkill, even.”
“...”
“Still...”
“?”
“We saw something truly 'magnificent,' so it's worth it, I suppose?”
“...Agreed.”
Iliad smirked, knowing exactly what Jenimia meant by “truly magnificent.”
Yes, they had seen something truly magnificent—no, extraordinary!
Lady, glad we came despite the risks.
He had come solely to aid his benefactor, but it was worth every danger.
Worth paying admission for, even.
Lady, my benefactor seems an even greater knight than I thought.
Squeeze...
Iliad briefly lamented his status as family head, not knight.
Otherwise,
I could have fought there too...
Iliad glanced at the kingdom's top powers bickering.
Probably not just bad blood...
They're fighting harder out of regret for missing that stage.
A stage that made one's heart race, affirming life, where honor, courage, valor, and justice breathed.
Missing it must sour their moods, Iliad cautiously guessed.
“...That rogue is up to his tricks again.”
“Agreed, truly impressive!”
“...I wasn't impressed.”
“Kuhuhu, don't play it down.”
“...”
“More importantly, he pulls off such feats casually yet grumbles calling me a genius. Feels like mockery no matter how I look at it, haha!”
“...Rare agreement with you. ...Annoying.”
“Hm?”
Lark and Maximus lightly bantered while watching the battle wind down.
Even with 300,000 magical beasts left, the disorganized horde was no longer a major threat.
The demon who orchestrated this monster wave gone meant that.
...And,
“Honestly disappointing. An ancient champion abandons everything just because his master died?”
“...”
“No desire for revenge?”
“...Revenge.”
Maximus deliberately provoked the sprawled ancient warrior.
Ninshubur, having witnessed Inanna's demise, had lost his will to fight and reached his limit against Lark and Maximus.
But Maximus knew.
A warrior of that realm had the resilience to surpass limits.
Maximus wanted to see it!
What power would an ancient champion unleash burning his life force?
...However,
“What meaning would it have...?”
Fwaah-.
“You!”
Maximus's eyes widened.
Roots sprouted from Ninshubur's body in an instant.
Like a tree's fine roots...
Crack.
The fine roots thickened and lengthened, digging into the earth. He gradually lost human form, becoming a tree.
“...”
Lark and Maximus watched speechless as Ninshubur, who had sentenced himself like his master, murmured.
“With this, my body and soul will remain eternally in this land as nourishment.”
This began endless torment.
Life force forcibly drained, soul trapped in an immobile tree, facing eternal darkness.
Same as Inanna—no, arguably harsher self-punishment.
“...A foolish choice.”
Lark's red eyes pierced Ninshubur's decision, frowning.
Better to die by one of their hands than choose that.
“...My master met that fate. How could I alone meet an honorable end? More miserable, more painful punishment upon myself is only proper.”
No hesitation in his reply. They looked baffled.
Did that demon owe any duty?
Reading their thoughts?
“Even so, she was my... master...”
Gazing at his lotus-transformed master with a bright smile, Ninshubur's head vanished completely. What remained was
Plop...
A single ash tree.
“...”
“...A bitter aftertaste.”
Maximus grumbled.
Going like that—what now?
But Lark shook his head.
“Just an undeniable villain. No pity needed, but...”
Pluck.
“His loyalty is commendable.”
Lark's spear dropped a petal from the sky beside the tree.
A petal bloomed from his master's nourishment.
“Isn't that cruel?”
“Cruel? That madman would rejoice.”
The two knights turned away from the ash tree.
To lend a hand and end this tedious battle swiftly...
Afterward, with three more knights joining, it took another three hours to annihilate the last magical beasts.