The Nameless War Demon (1)
In the heavy silence, I stared wordlessly at the Nameless War Demon. This wasn't like observing her from a distance before. Facing her head-on, I could see every fine detail.
Her brown hair, tied back, had a slight natural curl. Her eyes were so deep it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. The weapon in her hand was a single shortsword, but she had another blade sheathed across her back, separate from the one at her hip, and two daggers tucked into her belt. Considering her small stature and slender build, she looked less like someone equipped with weapons and more like someone surrounded by them. Strangely enough, it didn't seem unnatural at all.
She appeared to be around my current age, came from a mercenary background, wielded a variety of weapons, and possessed combat ability far beyond what her years should allow. No system window had appeared, and no one had told me, but I was certain.
This girl was one of the six templates a player could choose from. She was a key to surviving this brutal world.
Her being female is a surprise, but it's not that strange.
A template only determined background setting and ability traits. Name, gender, appearance, and such could be customized within certain limits by the player. In Heroes' Gathering mode, it was completely random. When I'd chosen the Nameless War Demon before, I'd played as male, but there was no rule saying it had to be that way this time.
"Uh, um… thanks. You saved my life."
I offered my gratitude to the girl whose name I didn't even know yet. I genuinely meant it, but even if I hadn't, leaving a good impression on the Nameless War Demon could only be beneficial.
"……"
But no answer came. The girl didn't open her mouth, nor did she make any kind of gesture. She simply stared at me. There was something mysterious about her gaze, as if she could see right through my inner thoughts, and it made me strangely anxious.
Could the Nameless War Demon not speak? I don't remember any setting like that.
Or did I do something to offend her?
If she thought we'd abandoned her group and run, it wasn't me—it was Dolf. I needed to clear up that misunderstanding.
"Um—"
The moment I tried to speak again, the girl's lips finally parted.
"—Just words?"
What did I just hear? Hmm. Maybe the shock from earlier hadn't worn off. Her hearing must be a bit off.
"Still, I'm the one who saved your life. I don't think you'd try to brush me off with just a verbal thank you. A reward, or a decent weapon would be better. Since it's the life of a rich family's young master, that much should be doable, right?"
"…………………………"
I looked up at the sky for a moment. It seemed the first protagonist I'd met in this world had a rather peculiar personality.
Her name, she told me, was Ligret.
"I wasn't planning to get involved. But if both the fat old man and you died, the request would fail and I wouldn't get paid. Clark and the others didn't seem to be in any position to worry about anyone else."
"So you came to save us?"
"I didn't know if I'd even be able to find you, but I had time, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. Besides, I had no intention of fighting in front of the others anyway."
"Why not?"
"It'd get annoying."
Ligret didn't elaborate on what exactly would become annoying. But I could roughly guess. Standing out wasn't always a good thing. Especially not for a young girl, no matter how strong she was.
"…By the way, what are you doing?"
I asked Ligret, who was examining the sword that had fallen beside the man whose throat had been pierced.
"Checking if it's any good. It's not bad, but it's not good enough to replace what I already have."
With a casual flick, she tossed the sword aside. It clattered to the ground. Had this girl been swapping weapons every time she defeated someone with a better one?
"Anyway, judging by what you said earlier, that fat old man is probably already dead. So the request is a failure."
Everyone's going to be disappointed, Ligret said, as if it had nothing to do with her. From the way she spoke, it sounded like the remaining members of the mercenary group and the merchant caravan could survive on their own even if left like this.
In that case, if I returned and rejoined them, there wouldn't be much I could do as the lord's son with so few allies left. But—
If I go back empty-handed like this, will that family head really let me off?
I didn't know. Technically, I hadn't been the one in charge of this deal. I'd only been there to watch and learn, so I shouldn't bear much responsibility. The problem was that I knew far too little about the character of that family head.
All I knew was that he was the owner of a vicious merchant company that ruthlessly squeezed out every coin, a lecherous man who turned a blind eye to the infighting among his own children. A cold-blooded bastard. Yeah… no matter how I thought about it, I couldn't see this ending well.
I pondered for a moment, then made up my mind and spoke.
"What if I told you there's a way we might still get paid for the request?"
"Huh? How?"
To the puzzled Ligret, I said,
"—By capturing the culprit behind this incident alive."
Stern Baldwin, heir to the Baldwin family and son of Sardan Baldwin, was growing restless.
"…Isn't it taking far too long just to catch one kid?"
The men Stern had brought for this operation were elites who trained and ate with him daily. They were the next generation of core members who would lead the Baldwin Estate. Given the estate's less-than-ideal financial situation and the need for a swift ambush, their equipment was mostly light armor. But their skill was undeniable, and he had believed this job would be simple.
Yet contrary to Stern's expectations, no news of victory came from the surprise attack team inside, no matter how long he waited. The men sent to pursue the youngest son of the Midas family, who had escaped the trap, also hadn't returned.
Should I have taken command of the internal assault team myself?
As the estate's heir, he had been assigned to handle the ambush at the exit on his comrades' advice—to prepare for any contingency and focus entirely on securing the target. But now he was regretting that decision. If he'd been moving his body frantically in battle, he wouldn't be stuck here waiting in such agitation.
"Lord Stern, wouldn't it be better to finish this one off?"
The young man remaining at his side pointed at Dolf, who had been screaming like a pig until recently and had now passed out. His face, which had taken multiple blows, was swollen like a steamed bun. Several front teeth were missing, and his limbs were twisted at grotesque angles. He was barely clinging to life, but Stern shook his head.
"He worked as the Midas family head's hands and feet. He might be useful for learning about their ugly sides or weaknesses. Keep him alive for now."
"Understood."
Rustle.
At that moment, they heard movement from the bushes deeper inside. Stern and his subordinate turned their gazes that way, and their eyes widened at the sight that emerged between the trees.
Chrome Midas. The primary target of this operation, the boy carrying the filthy Midas bloodline, was dragging something much larger than himself along the ground as he approached them.
The fact that the thing he was dragging bore a striking resemblance to a comrade who had shared meals at the same table just yesterday, combined with the boy's faint, mocking smile as he looked their way before casually discarding their comrade onto the ground like a piece of luggage, robbed both men of their composure and reason.
"You bastard!!!!"
The man charged like a beast in rage, but a blade flying in from the side blocked his path. There was a flash of light. The next instant, the man's body spun through the air like a windmill, flipping upside down. The force of his own charge combined with the swing of the blade tore half his neck open, and a fountain of blood gushed out.
Ligret met Stern's furious follow-up strike by discarding the longsword she'd been holding and drawing her shortsword instead. Stern's eyes wavered for the briefest moment upon realizing the one who had killed his comrade was a young girl, but rage quickly drowned out that shock.
Clang! Kaang!
Unlike his comrades who had been killed in a single exchange, Stern—recognized for his talent as a knight and the future lord, with years of rigorous training—did not fall behind Ligret. In fact, he was overpowering her.
Remarkably light and unpredictable. For her slender build, her strength is quite considerable. She also has the ruthlessness and sense to aim for vital points without hesitation.
But that was all.
She has no foundation in proper swordsmanship. No matter how strong she is, it's only relative to her appearance. She's no match for me!
Every time their weapons clashed, Ligret staggered backward. Stern's attacks grew even more ferocious. Finally, when Ligret tripped over a protruding tree root and lost her weapon, he was certain of victory.
This too is the result of cooperating with the Midas family. Don't resent me for it!!!
His lethal strike came crashing down.
—Or it should have.
If the girl who had supposedly fallen hadn't spun her body and hooked his leg.
"What—"
Thud!
Stern lost his balance and slammed headfirst into the tree in front of him. A dizzying shock ran through his entire body. Even amid the horrific pain of his face being shredded by the bark, he somehow opened his eyes. The last thing he saw was the girl, who had somehow produced an enormous club, swinging it down at him.