Chapter 16
Chapter 16
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Duke’s True Power
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* * *
Far away, at the end of a secluded, winding alley.
“Here, over here!”
The child, who had been urgently tugging at Charlotte's sleeve, stopped in his tracks, his wails from moments before ceasing abruptly.
“What, what is it? Where's your mother?”
Then, he scurried away from the two as if fleeing.
“Be careful.”
Dale quietly extended a hand, stopping a bewildered Charlotte.
“Well, well, what have we here!”
From behind a stone wall at the end of the shadowy alley, a figure emerged, brandishing a few daggers in his hand as if showing them off.
“What brings a noble young lord to such a squalid place?”
More figures emerged from hiding, blocking their path and surrounding them.
‘Five in total.’
One high-level thief, the rest several ranks below him.
They hadn't formally learned aura techniques like knights, but they utilized aura in their own self-taught ways.
A force capable of overpowering two or three of the ducal family's escort knights.
The experience honed through countless struggles in the underbelly of society was not to be taken lightly.
As Dale coolly assessed their numbers and skill, Charlotte, finally grasping the situation, placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.
“Young lord, you should quietly step aside.”
Seeing this, the high-level thief, ‘Jade,’ spoke up.
“Our target is, and always has been, that little girl.”
“...!”
At those words, Charlotte's expression turned frigid.
“I cannot hand over the young lady of House Orharhart to ruffians like you.”
“Ha! Your chivalry in protecting the lady is quite admirable.”
Jade the thief continued mockingly.
“But, young lord, there is a time and place for everything in this world.”
We will absolutely not lay a hand on the young lord of House Sachsen. So, step away quietly.
Abandon Charlotte.
Simply put, that was the gist of their message.
“...”
Dale remained silent, not answering. Charlotte glanced his way. For a fleeting moment, a faint tremor of fear—that Dale might abandon her—could be felt.
“I, Dale of House Sachsen, have sworn upon the name of my house to protect the young lady of House Orharhart.”
Therefore.
“Don't worry.”
“D-Dale...”
Dale replied with a smile.
“I made a promise.”
Dale's promise to protect her in the name of House Sachsen, until the day her sword could reach the heart of a Holy Sword Master.
“It seems you need to learn a harsh lesson about the world.”
Seeing this, Jade clicked his tongue quietly. The conversation was over.
All that remained was to use force.
Subdue the duke's eldest son without seriously injuring him, then capture the girl alive. Just as he was about to signal his men—
Dale extended a finger.
Mana began to swirl at his fingertip.
‘Magic!’
The prodigy of the ducal house possessed unparalleled talent in both swordsmanship and magic. Sensing this, Jade kicked off the ground before the spell could reach him.
The five thieves surged forward at once, with the young boy and girl at the center.
Distance is life when fighting a mage. Besides, no matter how great Dale's talent, he was still just a nine-year-old child. He would be no match for the blade of the battle-hardened Jade.
That's how it should have been.
*Fwoosh!*
Just then, a wind blew.
‘Wind?’
No, it wasn't wind. In this place where not even a breeze stirred, the cloak Dale wore began to flutter wildly.
One of the men, failing to grasp its meaning, rushed forward to subdue Dale.
“Get back, you idiots!”
Jade felt a terror that seemed to chill the blood in his veins and took a step back.
*Shuk!*
A blade of shadow shot up from beneath Dale's feet. A jet-black skewer, aimed at the nape of the man charging from behind.
Right through the gap in his throat.
“Gack, gurgle!”
*Puk!*
Blood gushed and sprayed.
“That leaves four.”
Dale muttered without even glancing, his voice devoid of any emotion.
Shadow Blade, the first form of Dale's artifact, the ‘Shadow Cloak’.
But that wasn't all.
Dale flicked a finger toward the man who had died with a skewer through his throat.
Using the Shadow Cloak's blade as a conduit, dark mana surged forth.
*Crack.*
The target's body twisted into an impossibly grotesque angle. At the same time, the corpse began to vomit.
“Ugh, uuuugh!”
All sorts of internal organs poured out from its throat.
The heart, intestines, lungs, stomach, and rectum... the useless parts of life for one already dead.
And into the hollowed-out corpse—a ‘shadow’ that rose from Dale's cloak slithered down its throat.
Like a living snake. Detaching from the shadow at his feet, it sought to take on an independent form.
The second form of the Shadow Cloak.
“Kieeeeeek!”
Shadow Parasite.
“Hungry, hungry, so hungry!”
The voice that had echoed like a hallucination in his own ears was now spewed from the corpse's vocal cords.
*Crack!*
A portion of the rib cage, no longer needed to protect organs, burst from the corpse's hand like a blade.
A ghastly Bone Sword.
Recalling the basics of undead soldiers his father had taught him, a new undead creature, born from the malice of the Shadow Cloak, kicked off the ground. A ‘Shadow Soldier’.
There was no need for a separate command. It moved, guided by the Hunger and dark will that had taken root in the corpse's body.
The Shadow Cloak Dale wore still fluttered in the windless space.
It was impossible to approach carelessly.
“Stop that corpse!”
Jade ordered his men, then readjusted his grip on his dagger.
This was no situation to go easy on him just because he was of ducal blood.
The consequences he would face from his organization for his actions were a secondary concern. A moment of carelessness here, and his own head would roll.
—Was that truly the ‘realm of talent’ a mere nine-year-old could display? Impossible. Having spent his entire life risking his neck in the underworld, he could sense it.
The techniques unfolding at the hands of that child.
They were not something that could be explained away by him being a ducal prodigy or the son of a magic tower master.
This was something more sinister, more vicious, a pure malice devoid of any trace of nobility.
“You monster...”
Readjusting his grip on his dagger, Jade kicked off the ground again. He circulated aura through his body, achieving a godlike speed that surpassed the limits of a human body.
As he lunged, the daggers in his hand fanned out in an arc.
But countless jet-black shadows shot up from the ground, rising like a shield to meet his blades.
‘This is my chance!’
The number of shadow blades that cloak could generate must be proportional to his mana. No matter how talented the duke's eldest son was, the mana he just spent on defense couldn't have been small.
*Taat!*
Jade sprinted, dodging the shadow skewers rising from the ground.
Once again, he threw his daggers in a fan-like spread, baiting the Shadow Cloak into using its defensive power before he closed in.
In a syncopated rhythm, the distance closed.
“—”
The element of frost condensed at the tip of Dale's finger.
But even if it was a bolt spell fired at point-blank range, Jade was confident he could evade it.
For a skilled assassin, dodging a chantless bolt fired at close range was not difficult.
No matter how much the formula was enhanced, a bolt spell could not match the destructive power and speed of a real arrow.
At least, the ‘bolt magic’ he knew of was like that.
“「Double Barrel」 · 「12-Gauge 00 Buckshot」.”
That was, until the ‘otherworldly words’ that Jade could never comprehend were chanted.
Ice crystallized at Dale's fingertip, and Jade focused his senses to read the trajectory of the crystallized ice.
But when that large piece of ice shattered, scattering into nine ice pellets—
“...?!”
It was nearly impossible to escape the impact zone of the ice scattered like shotgun pellets.
Despite countless ice shards embedding themselves in his body, Jade did not back down easily.
He gritted his teeth through the agony of his flesh being torn apart and his organs pulverized.
‘Not yet, not yet...!’
‘Not yet.’
His opponent had reinforced his body with aura, and Dale's Ice Bullet couldn't compare to the stopping power of a real firearm.
Barely avoiding a fatal blow, Jade forced his legs to move, enduring the pain of vomiting blood and his organs burning.
Again, the distance closed.
Point-blank range.
‘I've won!’
Confident of his victory, Jade readjusted his grip on his dagger, never imagining the meaning of the words ‘Double Barrel’ that Dale had just muttered.
Two barrels (Double Barrel).
To understand the ‘otherworldly words’ Dale muttered in this world, perhaps it should have been said like this:
—Memorize (Spell Load).
*Bang!*
At the last moment. When a 12-gauge buckshot was fired again, literally ‘at point-blank range,’ scattering as ice pellets—
‘This monster...’
There was no longer a human form left there.
But the fight was not yet over. No, from the start, it was a slaughter that couldn't even be called a fight.
“Hungry, hungry, so hungryyy!”
The Shadow Soldier swung the bone blades that had burst from its hands like claws.
As the ghastly white blade sliced open an organization member's abdomen, his intestines spilled out in a mangled heap.
Leaving the echoing screams behind, Dale turned his head.
He didn't even glance at the carnage unfolding behind him, instead turning to Charlotte, whose legs were trembling beside him.
“Is this the first time you've seen someone die?”
At least, the first time seeing someone die so horribly.
“...Yes.”
Charlotte, her face pale like a frightened child's, hesitantly nodded.
Dale, holding nothing back. A level of skill incomparable to when he had faced her in a duel with a single stiletto.
She herself hadn't even managed to draw the rapier her hand rested on.
Her own situation felt so pathetic and shameful, she couldn't bear it.
“Ice Bullet.”
Dale aimed his finger once more.
Finally, there was one man fleeing for his life without a backward glance. The element of frost condensed at Dale's fingertip and shot toward his ankle.
*Bang!*
With a scream, the man whose ankle had been completely blown away collapsed onto the filthy alley floor.
“H-Hii, don't come any closer, don't...”
And just as the Shadow Soldier was about to approach to hunt the last survivor—
“Return.”
Dale snapped his fingers.
“Kieeeek!”
The corpse shrieked as its body burst apart. Afterward, the ‘shadow’ that had been using the corpse as a host was drawn back to Dale's feet.
Dale walked over to the man who could no longer move, his ankle destroyed.
“S-Spare me! I'll tell you everything I know!”
“Everything you know?”
“Y-Yes! I'll tell you everything! So please, spare me...”
Dale tilted his head.
“There's nothing you could possibly tell me.”
His eyes were incredibly dark and deep.
“And I don't particularly want to know.”
He spoke calmly, his voice devoid of any emotion.
“So why should I let you live?”
Dale asked, tilting his head again, as he raised his finger once more.
“Monster, you monster...!”
Those words again.
*Bang!*
And with those words, there were no more screams. The mouth that would have screamed was gone.
“This...”
After a moment of silence, Dale turned his head toward Charlotte.
“Is the true face of House Sachsen, the one people fear.”
And he cloaked his own actions with the ducal family's infamy.
“As per our promise, this is also the power of the ducal house that will protect you.”
“...”
At his words, Charlotte quietly bit her lip.
“Are you afraid?”
“...Yes, a little.”
Charlotte nodded at Dale's words, her legs still trembling.
“...But you fought to protect me.”
But Charlotte pushed aside her fear and gave a soft smile, filled with quiet resolve.
“Thank you.”
Charlotte said. No matter how scared or frightened she was, she would never point a finger at Dale and call him a monster.
“You said you would buy my future.”
Dale nodded silently.
“You were wrong.”
Wrong? For a moment, Dale tilted his head, not understanding her meaning.
“You, you taught me about the future.”
Charlotte said with a wry smile.
“...To me, who knew nothing of reality.”
With the sea of blood and bodies strewn all around them.
“A future where I can protect House Orharhart with my own sword.”
She had thought there was only despair. Even if she were protected in the name of Duke Sachsen, she believed nothing would change.
She was wrong.
Only after realizing the ‘true reality’ of her situation could Charlotte understand the weight of Dale's words.
That day, what Dale had given Charlotte was a hope beyond compare. The hope that she could protect the ones she loved with her own sword.
“...”
“So, I will become your sword.”
*Shing.*
Drawing her rapier, Charlotte continued.
“I will train even harder.”
Even if, for now, she could only be the one who was protected.
“Until the day my future self can be a sword wielded for you.”
“...That's reassuring.”
Seeing her, Dale smiled quietly.
He had thought he felt no sense of debt toward Lord Badel. Taking her in was purely an act for his and his family's benefit.
He was wrong.
Therefore, her volunteering of her own will to become ‘Dale's sword’ held a much greater meaning than Dale had imagined.
* * *
After the situation was resolved, a messenger from the ducal house delivered a letter to Count Brandenburg.
It was a letter bearing the name and signature of Duke Sachsen himself.
‘I know it may be a difficult journey, but I would like to invite you, Count, to Sachsen Castle.’
It was worded very politely, yet it carried an unspoken pressure that could not be refused.
‘Please, for the sake of our sincerity, do not refuse.’
It was not difficult to grasp the situation.
The failure of his plan to kidnap the Divine Sword's daughter was no longer the issue. Not long ago, his own secret envoy, who had been ordered to contact the thieves' guild, had gone missing.
“Those damn bastards, they messed everything up...!”
A summons from Lord Black to hold him accountable for the incident. It was no different from walking into the lion's den.
But against the pressure exerted by the greatest archduke in the empire, even the renowned Divine Sword had no other choice.