Chapter 137
Chapter 137
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Rescue Amid Chaos
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A lean body and slightly hunched back, laughing eyes and deep wrinkles around the mouth all hinted that he was far older than he appeared at first glance.
“You know the reason.”
“And yet it’s just for amusement… There’s no way that child would be seriously hurt, so isn’t this overreacting, young one…….”
“And yet it’s not a full rebellion, so there’s no way that princess would be seriously hurt either—isn’t that side overreacting too?”
When Cain threw the man’s words right back at him, the elderly man widened his wrinkled, sunken eyes and burst into loud laughter.
“Hahaha!”
He straightened his hunched back with a crack, unable to stop laughing. Cain narrowed his brow slightly at the mana infused in that laughter.
Then, as if it had never happened, the laughter cut off abruptly, and a subdued voice echoed.
“No matter how strong you are, it’s impressive for your age, isn’t it? Young one, you still don’t know how terrifying life can be.”
“If you thought that, then why lure me here?”
Cain’s breath twisted at the old man’s words claiming he didn’t know life’s terror.
Just because he hadn’t even lived twenty years properly. Were all his experiences being dismissed simply because of his young age?
“Well, the capital is too cramped to teach a lesson to a brat like you.”
As the man raised his hand, now sprouting age spots, into the air, the space shimmered like heat haze rising, and in an instant, a jade longsword was gripped in his hand.
“Then show me just how fiercely you’ve lived your life.”
Cain, watching him, lifted Ska at a slant and whispered lowly.
* * *
“What’s the purpose of selling the Sirens?”
“Money… more money……!”
“Do you even know what value the Sirens hold?”
“…Communication… artifacts.”
Seria sighed, clearly displeased with my answer.
“This guy really is the hopeless wastrel from the rumors, huh? Maybe that sly Grand Duke is using him as a discard. I’ve never seen someone this incompetent.”
The maid with the slicked-back hair beside her replied in a flat tone to Seria’s words.
“That could be.”
Her slender fingers poked at my cheek, the sensation dull.
“He only knows money, booze, and women. If you just apply the Sirens a little, you could spy on other countries’ secrets. I want to monopolize them.”
The sound of something being gulped down her throat. Seria seemed anxious as she drank her tea.
“Something like that, sold to civilians? Imagine it. If I owned them all, I could control more information than anyone on this continent.”
The smooth sound of her fingertips tracing circles on the teacup she’d set down.
“Even a gold-obsessed Kruger wouldn’t think of selling this to commoners. Whose idea was this?”
“Probably Duke Cayman’s.”
At the slicked-back maid’s answer, Seria rose from her chair and seemed to lean even closer toward me, flopping onto the bed with a thud.
“Well, that makes sense. That sly fox must have thousands of venomous snakes in his belly. So he sent this worthless wastrel to the capital while staying hidden himself.”
Impressive. Using even his own son as a sacrificial pawn. One misstep, and he might not return alive if he incurs the wrath of the imperial family and me.
Seria whispered in a tiny voice before wrapping her slender hand around my throat.
“I’m annoyed. I want to vent.”
“Lady Seria. You can’t always have what you want.”
Even with my dulled senses, I could feel her hand tightening around my neck more and more intensely.
“I know that. Restraint, tolerance, mercy, devotion—all that imperial duty nonsense is so tiresome. And this guy’s so pathetic he doesn’t even have the talent to break properly.”
Squeeze!
“……!”
My already labored breathing from the drug tangled up worse, like swallowing a sheet of paper.
Just petulant venting without killing intent. That’s why Aegis wasn’t activating.
It would probably trigger right before death, but it didn’t count this ambiguous choking as an attack.
“Why won’t you break? There’s no way. I can feel your level is below mine, so why?”
As my drug-soaked body trembled uncontrollably, the hand on my throat loosened.
“Weird, right? So weird… Interesting.”
Her breath slowly approached, brushing my ear. Spilling all that mixed-up info had been fun enough, but this kind of play was a pass.
‘When are they coming?’
Even without Siren contact and my body out of control from the drug, I trusted my party.
No matter how late, if I didn’t return by tonight, they’d come looking.
Boom!
They would, right……?
A faint crashing sound echoed from afar.
Hey.
You guys don’t mean…….
“…What’s that noise?”
“The guards are dismissed, and only regular soldiers are around, so I’ll go check.”
The slicked-back maid doubled as a guard? Come to think of it, when she forced the drug on me, she seemed to have body-related traits.
“What could it be? That sly fox, out of character, maybe he does care for his child a little. Or…….”
Reluctant to discard a bait after just one use?
In a voice soft and kind like a hymn, Seria chuckled softly, “Hehe.”
* * *
“Block them! Block, I said!”
“Just hold out a bit longer, and the guards will come!”
To leave no evidence, Zero caught the soldiers’ arrows mid-air and fired them back instead of using his own.
“Argh!”
Someone rolled on the ground, hit in the knee by Zero’s arrow. Leaf leaped over the body, deflecting a spear thrust at Luna as she entered the corridor.
“Luna and I will head inside—Zero, guide us!”
At Luna’s shout, Zero and Leaf nodded in unison.
Luna sensed with something beyond her ears that Leaf meant to cover their rear as she and Zero pushed forward.
A certainty firmer than hearing it.
The corridor, burning red in the sunset glow, Luna dashed through with Zero.
“We’re almost there. The innermost room in the largest one, and another small room beyond.”
Zero recited the info he’d memorized from his brief Bahadi transformation earlier, and they sprinted at full speed.
At that moment, as their black robes flared back like wings, a woman in a long maid outfit with slicked-back hair appeared at the corridor’s end, dual-wielding short swords.
“That’s far enough. You shouldn’t come any closer.”
The corridor wasn’t narrow, but her dual short swords gave the impression of completely blocking the way.
Luna bit her lower lip.
‘Can’t get held up here long.’
Without Cain, the palace’s unique nature meant an entire party’s worth of force could pop out anytime.
And crucially.
‘This is still within Cain’s predicted time.’
Luna gauged the opponent. A powerhouse who could delay them over ten minutes without Cain?
‘Not at all.’
“Zero, please.”
“Yes, senpai.”
Zero stowed his bow and drew his sword. His mana settled heavier.
In an instant, Zero surged past Luna.
Clang! The sharp ring of metal echoed loudly, and half a vase sliced diagonally clean fell and shattered with a crash.
Two short swords spread wide enough to fill the corridor.
They moved as if held by different people, pushing and entangling Zero’s sword.
The maid dragged out time with tricky counters against Zero’s straightforward strikes, and the moment Zero whistled lowly.
Clang!
“What?!”
A bird dove from the sky, shattering a window and lunging at the maid.
The moment Zero briefly broke her dual-sword defense, Luna slipped through the gap and passed.
“Where?!”
The maid belatedly slashed the bird charging at her and turned to grab Luna behind her—!
Zero’s longsword thrust at her shoulder, forcing her to hurriedly deflect with her short sword.
“Don’t you have the luxury to look away?”
“…I can deal with you first and still catch up.”
Aura thickened denser on her dual short swords, and Zero drew deeper on his connected doppelganger, Druid Adonil’s power, pouring denser aura into his blade.
* * *
‘Young master, young master.’
Following Zero’s directions exactly. Luna raced ahead. Even if Adelian said no, someone should’ve tailed him anyway.
Aegis had loose judgments unless it was a killing-intent attack or one that clearly wrecked the user’s body—enough not to interfere with daily life.
Like not triggering if you bumped shoulders hard in a crowd; users raised alert levels manually if risky, or so I’d heard.
‘But he didn’t even have time for that.’
Poison, or drug.
Any strong indoor magic, Aegis would’ve blocked at least once, so Adelian could’ve contacted via Siren in that instant.
Luna kicked down the smallest door innermost and burst in.
“Oh my… What a small intruder.”
Luna’s eyes saw Adelian slumped in a chair, seemingly unconscious.
And someone loosely embracing him from behind the chair as a shield.
Beautiful wavy blonde hair cascading down, deep amethyst eyes.
Straight out of a childhood fairy tale—a perfect princess.
Normally, Luna would’ve admired how she truly looked the part.
But now, her deep pink eyes darkened, surging with a red like flowing blood.
“Let him go.”
“Hehe, such a cute voice. Here to rescue Young Lord Adelian?”
But he’s sleeping like this? Princess Seria overlaid her hands atop Adelian’s head, resting her cheek on them.
“…You’d better remove those filthy hands.”
In the still airless room, the hem of Luna’s robe swayed slowly.
‘Such fierce loyalty?’
Seria was impressed. How did the Kruger family educate them to inspire such devotion just for being the eldest son?
Judging by the noise, five or fewer intruders.
Though she’d deliberately dismissed the guards and disabled alarms for her needs, reaching here so quickly meant all aura users or better.
For this mere wastrel?
Confirming traces of aura slipping her control, Seria slowly lowered her hands from Adelian’s head to shatter Luna’s calm completely.
Stroking his cheek, caressing his shoulder, lightly tugging his collar—Luna’s robe hem, swaying only at her feet, suddenly whipped up wildly.
“…Die.”
“Huh?”
Boom!
Seria couldn’t comprehend what happened.
In one blink, the small figure before her blurred, shifting not forward but sideways.
Stepping off the side wall to redirect, Luna’s kick sent Seria flying the opposite way, staring in bewilderment.
As royalty, she wore defensive artifacts—no pain or wounds from the mere repulsion.
‘This strong?’
Voice and build clearly her age. Yet mid-level aura user or higher?
Her shield artifact silently shattered against a light attack, triggering the repulsion shield for instant evasion in dire combat.
Good that she’d provoked with the neck marks, but the cost was Adelian’s escape!
Seria landed lightly via artifact power and looked around—Adelian was already gone from the chair.
“…Whatever. I got raided, after all.”
Now she just needed to gather evidence and apply pressure.
Seria lightly smiled, stroking her honey-thick hair.