Chapter 86
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: It's Hard to Accept a Negative Reality (7)
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"Fuck! That psycho bastard."
Having slipped out of the Hasler branch of the Adventurer's Guild, Captain Niber of the knight order made his way to a secluded alley where he wouldn't draw attention.
As he thought of Mersenne, curses spilled from his lips.
'I made as many concessions as possible, and what? He tells me to get lost?'
No matter how famous and powerful a hero he was, wasn't this just too self-centered?
Sure, he'd delayed the man's business to some extent, but they had the justification of a royal decree from the Pacific Kingdom, Lin's original homeland.
'I'll have to take this up with the emperor.'
He'd originally planned how to respond if the Adventurer's Guild pushed back.
But with Mersenne Remnant stepping in, there was no choice.
He'd have to drag the Karr Empire into it and turn it into an international incident.
Of course, a massive nation like the Karr Empire might look down on a place like the Pacific Kingdom.
There were even cases where the territory governed by a single city lord in the empire was larger than the entire Pacific Kingdom.
But the Pacific Kingdom had the greater cause on its side with Lin Pacific, and he wasn't even a hero affiliated with the empire.
If they stirred up trouble over a mere adventurer...
The Karr Empire would lack justification.
In other words, purely in terms of justification, more countries internationally would side with the Pacific Kingdom.
Moreover, for all its size and power, the Karr Empire had plenty of enemies on the continent.
'Heh, this works out even better. If I can rack up a debt from the empire with this, they might acknowledge my merits and promote me to head of the knight order.'
Niber chuckled to himself like that, but there was one fact he overlooked.
How much the Adventurer's Guild's international image had improved lately.
And especially, how much significance the Hasler branch—home to key figures like Jenny, Lin, and Scarlett—held worldwide right now.
Blinded by rage toward Lin and ambitions for promotion, he wasn't thinking straight.
Sure, there were those who disliked the empire.
On paper, some might side with the Pacific Kingdom.
She'd been exiled, but she was still a former princess of the Pacific Kingdom.
It was a personal matter between Lin and the Pacific Kingdom, after all.
However, very few countries would want to make an enemy of the Hasler branch, which boasted two heroes and the top-tier hero Scarlett whose skills were already proven.
The title of "heroes unbound by nations, free to take on requests" carried immense weight internationally right now.
No head of state in any country could be unaware of that.
On top of that, they had friendly relations with Bastia?
The Hasler branch's international influence had long surpassed that of the Pacific Kingdom by leaps and bounds.
"Alright, let's head to Carmen first. I need to speak with Emperor Karr."
No, setting all that aside.
Even without it, considering that Karr 17th was currently allied with the Hasler branch...
It showed just how outrageous what he was attempting was.
Of course, Captain Niber, oblivious to all this, was puffed up with dreams as he prepared to head to the capital Carmen with his knights.
But then.
"What do you plan to do in Carmen?"
A woman's voice, chilled to the bone, came from behind.
No, it wasn't just the voice.
'...The, the temperature around us dropped.'
In an instant, even his body—clad in leather armor and thick plate mail—shivered.
It wasn't like with Mersenne, where his body stiffened and refused to move.
This was different—a chill seeping into his very bones, freezing his whole body solid.
"...What the?"
Niber and the knights turned toward the voice.
There stood.
"Didn't you have something to say to me?"
Lin, her expression as coldly sunken as the surrounding temperature, staring them down.
A beauty with long, straight sky-blue hair.
"Princess Lin...!"
Niber unwittingly called her by her old title.
"Princess? I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just adventurer Lin now."
She replied in that same icy voice.
"Ha, ha...! Shameless bitch. Do you have any idea how furious the king is because of you?"
Though momentarily overwhelmed by the atmosphere, Niber regained his composure.
'Heh, I was planning to go to the emperor first, but this is even better! I'll deal with this wench now and hold the emperor accountable later.'
After all, before heading to Hero Academy, she was weaker than him—a hero and knight captain with countless real battles under his belt.
So he figured he couldn't possibly lose to her now either.
There were rumors she'd slain a dragon, but he dismissed that as obvious exaggeration.
"Come back to the Pacific Kingdom right now, apologize to His Majesty, and swear you'll live quietly so we never hear that name again. Then maybe I'll spare your life."
Of course, even if he let her live, Mersenne would probably kill her anyway.
'...Huh?'
Come to think of it, something was off.
Mersenne had been right there in the guild lobby.
So how was Lin able to walk out here unscathed?
'...Hmph, whatever. She must've gone off on a request or something.'
He assumed she hadn't stopped by the guild yet.
It was good for him.
If Mersenne killed her at the guild, he couldn't fulfill the king's order to bring her back.
As he thought that.
"...Ha, you chase me away saying you don't need me whenever it suits you."
Lin let out a sigh of utter disbelief.
"I have no feelings left for you people anyway. Just stay out of my life from now on and get lost."
Whoosh─
In that instant, it felt like a blade of freezing wind had swept in.
His skin felt sliced, his bones chilled.
Something was wrong.
Niber instinctively sensed it.
But his mind kept looping: 'Lin is weaker than me,' 'That wench can't defy Father's orders.'
"Are you insane?! This is an order from the King of the Pacific Kingdom, Orlando Pacific!"
Feeling an inexplicable chill, Niber screamed as if trying to shake off the fear gnawing at his subconscious.
"Sigh, what do you want me to do about it?"
But then.
The air around them, already feeling cold, shifted once more.
Crack!
"?!"
"Wh-what?!"
Before they knew it, pure white frost had settled everywhere.
By the time they noticed, ice had frozen solid from the ground up to their ankles.
"Aaaagh?! M-my feet!"
"Fuck, magic?!"
"Cycle your mana! Melt it or shatter it with mana!"
Niber and the knights panicked, trying to deal with the ice any way they could.
But the ice, infused with powerful mana, refused to melt or break easily.
Krunch!
"Ngh..."
Niber, with his hero's strength, managed to break free, but even he felt fatigued from the sudden surge of mana.
And he hadn't fully melted the ice around his feet—chunks of his steel boots had flaked off.
"Wh-what is this..."
Only then did Niber consciously realize something was gravely wrong.
This wasn't the Lin he knew.
Even setting aside the low temperature, the sheer volume of mana was chillingly immense.
"Go back and relay the message. Don't get involved with me anymore. Or else..."
Slash!
Mid-sentence, she suddenly swept her magic staff from above downward.
In that moment.
Thud─
"...Huh?"
Captain Niber's right arm fell limply to the ground.
The severed stump was coated in red ice, so no blood flowed.
It looked detached from reality, like a doll's arm had been cut off.
It took Niber a moment to register that his arm was gone, his shoulder frozen solid.
And that was why.
"A, aaaargh! M-my aaaarm!!"
The horrific pain hit the instant awareness sank in.
But the worse part wasn't the burning agony of the amputation.
It was just a piercing, bone-deep chill, like pressing something freezing against his skin.
Which made the reality sink in all the colder, more brutally.
His arm was gone.
Frozen solid.
"Got time for that? You should get treatment quick. If they freeze the nerves and blood vessels too and suture it properly, it might reattach."
Lin, the one who'd severed it, spoke in a voice devoid of emotion, utterly cold.
"A, ah..."
Niber was right-handed.
Without his right hand, forget being a knight—normal life would be nearly impossible.
At least it was ice magic, so the nerves were frozen too. With a good healer, he could probably use his arm again.
Enduring the brain-freezing chill, he picked up his fallen arm.
"Hic, haa...!"
He abandoned his subordinates, still trapped by their frozen ankles, and scrambled alone to escape the alley.
'That fucking bitch... Fucking bitch...!! Wait, I'll bring every knight from Pacific and chop off all your limbs...!!'
Niber ground his teeth.
He couldn't win alone.
But if he reported this to the Pacific Kingdom and led the knights back...
He was sure he could get revenge on that ice witch.
That's what he thought.
'I'm still the knight captain. I can do more. I won't stop here. I'll rack up merits and climb to the top!'
Yes, if he could just reattach his arm.
If he could swing a sword as knight captain again.
He could start over as many times as needed.
'Kuhuhu... You'll end up as my merit in the end, Lin. Spend the rest of your life regretting your mercy to me!'
But then.
"...No, that won't do."
Crack!
Lin extended her staff again, and the right arm Niber held froze completely solid.
Then.
Shatter!
It exploded into fragments.
"...Uh?"
Niber stared at the ice shards that had been his arm, his face blank.
Then he looked at Lin, as if wondering why—after showing mercy, giving hope—she'd snatched it away so pointlessly.
Her answer was simple.
"Your expression looked impure. It had that face that'd probably bother Sir Kane."
As if it were truly no big deal.
Like letting a buzzing fly live because it was annoying, then swatting it when it got on her nerves.
That trivial.
"A, ah..."
He dazedly gathered the shattered ice pieces.
But they were just faintly red-tinged ice shards.
Even glued back together, it wouldn't become an arm again.
Yes, they were like flies.
Lin could let them live if she felt like it.
Kill them if she didn't.
She'd torn off his arm because she wanted to.
Smashed it because she wanted to.
Yes, at least it wasn't his head.
His frozen throat could have snapped off too.
She hadn't killed him.
That was all.
Only then did Niber fully understand.
How stupid they'd been.
How horrific and dangerous a thing they'd touched.
"Don't bother me or Sir Kane again, and never show your face before me. Or I'll freeze and rip off all your limbs."
Just how powerless they were before her... no, before that thing.
Like insects.
"Aaaargh..."