Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf
Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf
"You sure love asking pointless questions. Why don't you ask the rest of your underlings about that?"
I pointed with my chin at the guide standing behind Baron Pabaera, then unfastened my scabbard from my belt, planted it on the ground, leaned against it crookedly, and answered with a very dissatisfied attitude. At the same time, I assessed how skilled Baron Pabaera and his soldiers were.
A fact I'd learned while training in earnest with aura-related techniques at the Ogatorf house was that I couldn't properly sense Mana or aura.
Because I manipulate Magic Power in a state close to raw ore, refined Mana and aura both feel incredibly faint to me. I'd heard that people who reached a certain level could gauge another person's strength just from the aura they normally gave off... but I couldn't tell a damn thing.
My detection ability was so poor that even from Ekaf, who was the King's Third Sword, I could only feel an utterly normal aura. They said others felt a sense of pressure even from someone who'd learned just a little aura.
"Hmm. Are you that exhausted? That was quite a sharp reaction."
Perhaps because of that, no matter how much I scrutinized Baron Pabaera and the guards in front of me, I felt nothing.
Even though I hadn't expected much, the twenty men in the forest command post were said to be elite among themselves. Although the only one at a decent level was the one whose sword got broken in half at the end, anyway, according to the friend who passed me the information, shouldn't the ones here be at least on par with that half-sword guy or stronger?
But no matter how much I looked, I just didn't get any feeling.
I pretended to scratch the back of my head and glanced at Sheryl, but I couldn't tell if she was maintaining a good poker face or if he was really a nobody so she was unimpressed.
"Still, you can tell just by looking that you've been through a desperate fight, so we were lacking in consideration. But as the ones who made the request, we can't blindly trust your testimony, so I'd like you to cooperate for a bit."
"If that cooperation means 'go back inside,' then I can only refuse. Handle that yourselves. As the Baron just said, we're completely drained. The guys fighting in the forest aren't mopped up yet, so going back and running into them would be dangerous."
"Actually, that part is a bit of a concern. One of the things we learned while observing them... was that if something went wrong at the command post, they'd use something like a signal flare to summon their comrades stationed in the forest."
Wow. I never imagined they'd be this blatant.
"But the time you entered and all... and the fact that no signal flare was fired. There are quite a few things that bother me. Don't you yourself know better how fast you went in and out?"
"You're really working hard to beat around the bush accusing us of lying. Is it because you're a noble?"
I frowned deeply and spat out the words with the most contemptuous expression and tone I could muster. When I rested my hand on the sword hilt in that crooked posture, the soldiers, except for Baron Pabaera, reacted.
"Don't try anything stupid, adventurer."
"If you get yourself killed in a dog's death by overestimating your skills, you won't even get paid, you know?"
Their reaction was not to the insult to their master, but to me, declaring my willingness to fight despite their numbers. It became clear that this wasn't a relationship maintained by loyalty.
If they'd at least pretended to be angry, I might have considered it, but their faces were so blatantly full of mockery that I felt no need to further verify whether the information from my forest friend was true or false.
"Funny thing to say. The two of us wiped out their command group. Even by the simplest math, that's ten kills each. You don't seriously think the four of you can stop us, do you?"
"Ha. Looking at you, you're in no condition to fight more, so what does that matter?"
"It matters. Even if I'm not fit to fight more, I could beat the likes of you with one eye closed."
At my response, they didn't get angry but laughed. That was a very good sign. Underestimating me meant our current wretched appearance was doing its job, and if it came to a fight, I could win more easily.
"Enough. There's no need to raise voices. But even if we believe you, these three heads won't resolve it. Is this your first bandit subjugation?"
"Well, it is my first, but I know you get paid by the number of heads."
"Then why did you leave the other bandits' heads behind and only bring these?"
"I did it to confirm."
"Confirm?"
"Yeah. When I nailed one of the bastards I thought was just a bandit inside, he had an interesting story to tell."
Keeping as relaxed a posture as I could with one hand still resting on my sword, I put on my most mocking expression and continued.
"Apparently they're the Baron's private soldiers, luring adventurers out and killing them so they can manufacture glory they never earned. Can you believe that?"
The private soldiers standing in groups of five around Pabaera all twisted toward their swords so nearly at once that it might as well have been simultaneous.
My nerves, strung tight, perceived the world as if in slow motion, and I reacted to their movements.
None of them specifically targeted Sheryl, who stood slightly behind me. I could tell the swords were swung with the clear intent to kill me first. Pabaera, as if by prior agreement, pulled his body back and was about to lower his stance to prepare for what came next.
All that happened in less than a second, and I inwardly marveled at the fact that I could perceive it, then relaxed my expression.
I drove my body forward on the Magic Power I'd packed into it hard enough to strain myself and seized my sword.
To reduce even the time to draw, I not only pulled the sword but also flung the scabbard backward. By the time that series of actions was complete, I had already instantly passed through the gap the ten men aiming for me left, broke through the encirclement from the front, and was swinging my sword at Pabaera.
I had no intention of killing him immediately.
So I just cut off Pabaera's right arm and right leg as he tried to grip his sword, then turned my body to prepare for the next.
"Arghk!"
"Aura?!"
All this had taken less than a second. I barely suppressed the urge to admire the result my abused body had produced, and when I raised my sword horizontally above my head and took my stance, all ten were staring at me with eyes filled with shock.
"Idiots."
There were two of us, and they weren't even looking at Sheryl—only me?
"For the sin of ignoring and slighting the Royal Family's protection!"
Sheryl's fury exploded from behind those bastards' heads.
"I will execute you in the name of Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf!"
Even though she was inevitably slower than me, Sheryl was also an aura user. While their attention was all on me, she had already lunged forward, and at the same time she shouted, she cut through the necks of two and advanced. The confused bastards, startled by the sound of blades slicing flesh, ended up floundering without even managing to divide roles between us.
"Ogatorf!?"
"F-fuck!"
Hmm. The reason for their surprise must have been the unexpected name. But whatever the reason, if I wasted time dealing with spaced-out fools like these, how could I kill a commander of the Demon King's Army?
Whatever startled them, those who didn't react in time died in an instant without even properly crossing swords once. The fight was so anticlimactic that Sheryl's technique was more surprising than anything they did.
She advanced, cutting down with counterattacks the ones who'd half-heartedly crossed swords, and displayed a combo technique worthy of a video game, slashing four in succession. I couldn't help but clap with genuine respect.
"That was a brilliant counterattack. Art, pure art."
"Mm. Even I felt it went in cleanly. Satisfying."
I wondered about a fifteen-year-old kid being so satisfied that her killing technique went in cleanly, but since it was that kind of world, I decided not to worry about it.
Leaving behind the ones we'd dealt with so definitively that no coup de grâce was needed, we approached the fallen Pabaera and the guide who'd fallen backward and was trembling, and decided to each do our own task.
"Baron Pabaera. You swung your sword the moment my butler finished speaking, so I had no choice but to kill them all because it was too dangerous, you see?"
"U-uaaah..."
Leaving behind Pabaera, who was trembling too much in shock to even scream, and Sheryl, I approached the guide.
"Hey."
"Heek!"
"Save the “eek” for when you see a fucking cockroach, asshole!"
I barked at him so he couldn't think of anything else and stabbed my sword into the ground, and he immediately curled up his whole body and shouted.
"P-please spare me! I-I only did as I was told!"
"Yes! That's it!"
"Me... eh? Yes?"
"Doing as you were told! To survive this situation, the only way is to confess every last detail! Isn't that obvious?"
"O-of course! Of course I must tell everything! I can tell you everything that wicked Pabaera was plotting!"
"Gadweri, you son of aaahh!!"
"You dare raise your voice before me, you traitorous scum!"
"Aaaaagh!"
There was a dull sound like something kicking squelchy meat, so I didn't bother to look back. That kind of sound meant someone had kicked a severed part, and such a sight was never good for the mind and body.
But the guide, whose eyes had been darting wildly, saw the scene behind me and turned even paler, starting to beat his head on the ground.
"Please! Please spare me!"
"You want to live?"
"O-of course!"
Our friend Wery looked up at me with tear-filled eyes, showing desperation. Like with the forest friend, I was quite favorably disposed toward cooperative guys like this. He hadn't even swung a sword at me in the first place, and I had no hobby of holding responsible those who had no choice but to obey. So I squatted down, placed a hand warmly on Wery's shoulder, and said.
"Now. From now on, you're Chatty Wery."
"Eh? I'm... Ah! Yes! That's right! I am Chatty Wery! Chatty Wery is ready to talkatively spill everything he knows!"
This little bastard was quick on the uptake. I liked him a lot.