Guidance of Faith (3)
Defense, counterattack—none of it mattered unless you could see the enemy’s strike coming. If the attack never entered your vision and left you no room to react, then as the one on the receiving end, there was simply nothing you could do.
“She vanished…?”
The Zombie Maid shifted her body—and in the next instant she was gone from sight. When Chris blinked, the girl who had been surrounded was already standing behind the soldiers.
—G-Gyaaaaah!!
—Dodge! Get out of the way!
—What the hell just—I couldn’t even se—Ghk!!
“W-What in the world….”
What reached him next were the soldiers’ screams and the bright crimson blood spraying through the air. Like petals scattering from a flower, the soldiers’ heads were cleanly severed and dropped one after another onto the ground.
“That’s impossible….”
Chris, watching from atop the wall, was struck dumb by a speed no eye could follow. In the space of a few seconds, more than a dozen necks had been cut through in a single sweep.
—S-Stab her! Surround her agai—Gyaaaah!!
—Run for it!! Ghk!!
It did not end there. The heads of the few remaining survivors were also taken before they could so much as move.
“…Worthless things.”
Around the zombie as she flicked the dark-red blood from her blade, headless corpses piled into a small mountain. The archers on the wall who had witnessed the entire scene began to tremble.
Under normal circumstances they should have been on guard, should have been loosing arrows—yet not one of them could bring himself to move. Not one of them dared aim a bow at that monster.
What… what even is that thing….
In less than ten seconds the maid zombie had slaughtered every last one of his soldiers—roughly thirty men, including Captain of the Guard Edmund. Chris’s entire understanding of the world twisted out of shape.
Thoughts flooded his mind and churned it into mud.
Could a monster truly move that fast?
Where had something like that even come from?
S-rank? No—an ultra-rare SS-rank?
Had the Progenitor Vampire really sent it?
Why come to our territory of all places?
“Damn it….”
He could answer none of those questions. He simply lacked the information. Even in the ten years he had spent as an adventurer in his youth, he had never seen a monster like this.
…Is there anything in our territory that could possibly beat that?
His thoughts moved on to the most critical point of all.
Ordinary soldiers were useless against her, and she had laughed off the sealing necklace they had trusted and torn straight through it. Was there anyone in Rieli who could stop a maid zombie like that?
It was a small territory; the garrison was not large. Even if they tried to hire adventurers, the highest-ranked one in Rieli was only A-rank.
Edmund himself—one of the strongest men in the whole territory—had been killed before he could lift a finger. Who, then, could possibly stop that zombie girl?
“….”
Huh…?
While Chris was lost in thought, the maid zombie ignored them completely and began walking deeper into the territory. The color drained from Chris’s face.
No. Absolutely not.
As long as nothing in Rieli could stop her, letting her enter the heart of the territory would mean only one thing: a rampage. A bloodbath.
Buildings would burn, the people would die, and everything they had built would come crashing down.
Just like that day twenty years ago.
“I will not allow it.”
That, above all else, had to be prevented.
He had sworn countless times that he would never let the same thing happen again. The sight of his territory standing on the brink of ruin—that humiliation—he would never allow it to be reenacted.
“W-Wait!”
Chris shouted toward the Zombie Maid.
The voice that tore from his throat was less a calculated move than pure instinct—the desperate need to stop her somehow.
“Wait! Wait just a moment!”
He did not even know what he was thinking. Like a man chasing after a former lover, Chris frantically tried to halt the Zombie Maid and leapt down from the watchtower toward her.
“What is it, human.”
The Zombie Maid planted her greatsword in the ground like a cane and looked down at him with open contempt.
He did not care what expression she wore. The simple fact that he had stopped her steps filled him with relief, and Chris immediately dropped to his knees at the monster’s feet, pressing his forehead to the dirt.
“Just a moment—please wait just a moment and hear me out.”
A monster that spoke the human tongue.
It was something that shattered every common sense of the world—yet under the present circumstances it had become a stroke of pure luck.
…Because it meant there was at least a slim chance of resolving this through dialogue.
“F-First of all, I am sorry.”
Now that a conversation had been opened, he had to soothe her somehow, give her whatever she wanted, and send her away without any further damage.
Perhaps this was the final chance the Goddess Astira had granted him.
“I-I am the lord of this land—Chris Evergrit.”
First he calmly revealed his identity, making it clear that he was someone in a position to negotiate.
“Lord….”
Whether it was a good sign or not, the zombie’s body gave a small start at his introduction. Chris seized the opening and pressed on.
“…I do not know why you attacked us, or what it is you want. But if there is anything you desire, name it.”
“….”
“Money? I will give you as much as you want. Non-interference with monsters? We will never set foot in your territory again. Whatever it is, I will grant it all.”
“….”
“S-So please, I beg you—stop. I am begging you. Please withdraw from this territory.”
Chris drove his forehead even deeper into the ground. Sticky mud mixed with blood soaked unpleasantly into his hair, but he paid it no mind.
—M-My lord….
—Kh, my lord….
Behind him the archers on the wall watched with tears in their eyes. A human lord prostrating himself before a mere monster—there could hardly be a more pathetic sight.
History might one day record him as the worst lord who ever surrendered to a monster. He did not care. If it would make this creature leave, he would offer up his own life.
“Hmm….”
The Zombie Maid looked down at him with cold eyes. She seemed to be weighing her words—then a hollow little laugh escaped her.
“Pfft.”
A scornful snort from that prim-looking face.
“Ghk?!”
And then Chris’s head was stomped into the dirt. The Zombie Maid’s heel ground mercilessly into the back of his skull, driving his face completely into the mud.
“Listen, human.”
“Glrk….”
With his eyes, nose, and mouth buried as if he were being waterboarded in mud, the cold voice of the Zombie Maid reached his ears.
“Seems you’ve got the wrong idea.”
“….”
“…Who was it that attacked first?”
“…!!”
At that single sentence, Chris’s eyes flew open even in the mud. At the same time, every word and action he had taken atop the wall flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
————We cannot allow a monster into our territory! Loose! Turn her into a pincushion!
“Ah….”
Just as the Zombie Maid said, the ones who had struck first were not her—they were. A declaration of war made with full knowledge of the consequences. Realizing that, Chris’s heart sank like a stone.
“…Human, I’m simply delivering a justified counterattack.”
“Ghk!”
The Zombie Maid kicked him hard in the stomach with the same foot that had been crushing him. The impact sent Chris tumbling across the ground.
“Cough! Ghk! Cough, cough.”
He gasped for the breath he had been denied while face-down in the mud, and the blow to his abdomen wrenched endless coughs from him. The Zombie Maid lifted her greatsword and began walking slowly toward him.
“You should have been ready for this the moment you attacked.”
“Ugh….”
Watching her approach, Chris froze. They were the words of a monster, yet not a single one of them was wrong. Whatever her true nature might be, the ones who had attacked first were them.
The knowledge that he had made the worst possible mistake—that his hasty judgment had handed this monster every right to slaughter them at will—clenched around Chris’s chest like a fist.
“…!!”
And then a single thought struck him.
She had been scanning the walls as if ready to attack at any moment, waiting until Chris himself arrived—and only after the arrows flew had she begun her assault on the territory.
…Had she deliberately goaded them into striking first?
So that she could slaughter them with full justification?
A monster thinking that far ahead?
Just what was she?
“…Anyway.”
The Zombie Maid’s eyes blazed as she swung her greatsword through the empty air. The target, however, was not Chris—it was the archers on the wall.
—D-Dodge!!
—Gyaaaah!
“Ah….”
A blue blade of sword energy shot from the tip of her weapon and cleanly severed the necks of every archer on the wall. Witnessing that impossible scene, Chris felt a warm wetness spread down the front of his trousers.
The monster’s gaze returned to him.
“…Don’t go around claiming you were attacked by a monster, human. You were the ones who struck first.”
“….”
“Ah, and you asked what I want?”
A smile laced with madness curved her lips as the Zombie Maid drew closer still. She raised the greatsword high and spoke once more in that icy voice.
“…Your heads, human. This territory dies today.”
“Aaaah….”
The thought that everything was finished crashed over him. Clinging to a mind collapsing under shock and terror, Chris forced out one last question.
“Y-You… just what are you…?”
“Me?”
The Zombie Maid gave a short laugh. Then, with a face full of pride, she answered him.
“…I am a servant of the greatest being in the world.”
“The greatest being…?”
“You don’t need to know. You’ll be meeting them soon enough anyway.”
“What…?”
Chris tried to ask again at the cryptic words, but the Zombie Maid offered no further reply. Her greatsword swung, and a dull impact struck his temple.
Chris’s vision went black.
“In times like these we must stand as one! A toast!”
When a nation stood on the brink of an unprecedented crisis, what sort of conduct should its leaders display?
After centuries of unbroken peace, Robert Whitepin had little idea how the rulers of other lands behaved in wartime—but he was quite certain it was not this.
“A toast! A toast! No one leaves until they’re drunk!”
“Wahahaha! Prime Minister Lilianel! Long live! Long live! You’re the greatest!”
“….”
In a corner of the banquet hall of the fortress city Nebirtol, Robert watched with open disgust as Prime Minister Lilianel Greenfield drank herself into a frenzy.
…After fleeing all the way from the capital, the very first thing she had done was not form an emergency command, not draft countermeasures, not even rest—she had summoned the local nobles and thrown a banquet.
—A banquet? Are you joking? What if word gets out that Your Excellency is here?
—Don’t be so high-strung, Robert. Worrying about our location being exposed is overkill. I’ve already sent doubles to other cities as insurance, just to keep Elzerva guessing.
—Then when exactly do you plan to prepare a response to that vampire?!
—Hmm, well, we’ll have to wait for Grandius to arrive first, won’t we? In the meantime I intend to get a firm grip on the nobles here. It would be inconvenient if any of them started talking back.
—….
Robert had protested furiously against hosting the banquet, but Lilianel had brushed every concern aside as if it were nothing. Watching her, Robert’s brow furrowed deeply.
…Her dependence on the Hero is far too great.
Hero this, Hero that, Hero everything.
Even granting that the bulk of her power rested on the Hero’s backing, her reliance on him was still absurdly severe.
She never seemed willing to start anything on her own, and as her secretary Robert found the situation endlessly frustrating.
This cannot continue.
…No matter how far beyond ordinary measure the Hero’s strength might be, the same was true of the legendary vampire who had assaulted the capital. Information on the vampire was scarce; if anything, they were the ones at a disadvantage.
If they simply wasted time trusting in the Hero alone and the defenses of Nebirtol, the one that would ultimately collapse was the Abilia Kingdom itself.
What a damned Prime Minister.
But that elf had lived with this mindset for the past thousand years; reforming her now was impossible.
“You there.”
“Yes, Lord Robert.”
Robert quietly summoned his attendant.
If the country was to be saved, then Robert himself would have to do something. With the capital fallen, the person holding the most power after the Prime Minister was her secretary—himself.
He spoke to the attendant.
“Contact the mercenary guild Stormhound at once through a communication crystal and place a request.”
“Stormhound, my lord?”
“Yes. The request is the subjugation of the Progenitor Vampire and the recapture of the capital. Target: the entire membership of Stormhound. Reward: one billion gold coins.”
“O-One billion…!!”
The attendant’s face went deathly pale at a sum so vast it defied comprehension. Robert merely nodded again, making it clear he was entirely serious.
“That’s right. One billion gold coins.”
It was an amount large enough to require dipping into the national treasury, but moving the entirety of Stormhound—home to the strongest warriors on the continent—would demand no less. If necessary he could simply liquidate the private assets of Lilianel that he managed.
Lilianel would fly into a rage when she found out, but under the circumstances there was no other choice. Only if the nation endured would her position as Prime Minister—and Robert’s own status—continue to exist.
Besides, in Robert’s judgment the only ones on the continent besides the Hero who could stand against the vampire were Stormhound’s Iron King and his officers.
Even if they failed, they would buy enough time for the Hero to formulate a plan; the investment was more than worth it.
“U-Understood.”
“Good. I will take full responsibility for everything.”
The attendant hurried out of the banquet hall to carry out the order, and only then did Robert allow himself a sigh of relief, feeling as though he had secured at least one reliable insurance policy.
—P-Prime Minister!
—Hm? What is it?
—….
—I-Is that true?!
—Yes! It’s true!
—I-I’m going right now.
…And in the banquet hall, Lilianel—having received some piece of news from another attendant—bolted out of the room in her stocking feet.
Her face looked both extremely urgent and extremely happy, but Robert only shook his head.
“…Another man, no doubt.”
There was nothing left worth expecting from her.
“A-At last!”
The Hero has arrived.
The moment she received the news she had waited for so long, Lilianel Greenfield hiked up her skirts with both hands and broke into a full sprint.
What a blissful moment this was.
Because the Hero had been away on a demon-subjugation campaign, it had been a full half-year since she last saw his face. Just imagining running her hands over that soft skin made a smile bloom across Lilianel’s lips.
The ash-gray hair that had become an object of both love and resentment.
Those adorable blue eyes.
My love, carried across a thousand years.
“Aaaah….”
She ran and ran until she burst out of the banquet building. The bright light of the setting sun greeted her—and at last she saw him.
“Ah, Prime Minister!”
“Grandiuuuus!!”
Casting aside every scrap of dignity that came with the office of Prime Minister, every concern for watching eyes, Lilianel threw herself straight into the arms of the 21st Hero, Belia Grandius.
“Why did you take so long! I missed you….”
“I missed you too.”
The Hero gently stroked the elf’s hair.
“Hm?”
While Lilianel savored the solid, warm feel of his hand, three heavily armed men and women came into view.
Familiar faces.
Grandius’s hero party.
“Greetings, Prime Minister.”
“Hello!”
The holy knight Daniel and the magic swordsman Yuna offered their greetings in turn. Knowing the closeness between her and Grandius, they showed little surprise at the passionate embrace.
“…Hello.”
Only the blue-haired short-haired woman who looked like a newcomer murmured the word as if her mind were somewhere else entirely.
“I’ll speak with the Prime Minister for a bit before I come in, so go rest first.”
“Understood.”
“Got it!”
Grandius smiled and urged them toward their lodgings. Without a word of complaint his companions disappeared into the guest building attached to Nebirtol’s banquet hall.
…Now only Lilianel and the Hero, Belia Grandius, remained.
The moment every watching eye was gone, the light in their gazes changed.
…From simple joy into the deep, hungry look of lovers craving each other.
“Lilianel….”
“Grandius….”
Without either of them needing to speak first, their lips met.
Tongues tangled as they tasted one another, poured their love into each other, and left thick strands of saliva trailing between them.
“….”
Only after a long, thorough exploration of each other’s mouths did they finally pull apart. Yet the intensity in their eyes remained unchanged.
Grandius stroked Lilianel’s cheek as he spoke.
“…I hear that vampire has been released.”
“Mm.”
“She took Elmaile and the capital, and she’s after you.”
“Mm.”
“…Don’t worry.”
The words Lilianel had so desperately wanted to hear spilled from the Hero’s lips. Her smile widened. As if laughter were contagious, the corners of Grandius’s mouth lifted as well.
“No matter what happens, I will protect you.”
“Mm. I trust you.”
…Yes. Just as you have for the past thousand years, protect me this time as well.
Crush that damned vampire with your power.
Seal her away forever so she can never open her eyes again.
My prince.
My eternity.
“…I love you, Grandius.”
No—
“Julius.”