I Am the Western Viscount
"You're the Northern Grand Duke..."
"Viscount."
For a moment Kerel could only stare at Rian, struck utterly speechless.
"...Th-the lord's manor!"
The cry tore out of him.
"The inner castle is in danger! A larger Sand Howler went the other way—"
"Doesn't matter."
Rian cut him off.
"Someone I trust went that way."
"...Someone you... trust?"
Rian had been staring toward the horrific screams rising from the direction Rupia had gone. At the question, he turned his head back.
"Come on. Get up."
He held out a hand to the fallen knight. Kerel looked at it, shook his head, and pushed himself up onto his knees.
"I am fine. I can walk."
He forced himself upright and swayed at once.
"You have my thanks. I do not know who you are, but..."
The words died.
Only then did he truly see the man standing before him, arrogant and utterly unshaken. Jet-black hair and black armor. A sharp, sunken gaze, and skill that pressed down like a weight.
I've seen this somewhere... no.
This is a face I've imagined before.
"Could you perhaps be..."
"I'm going."
As if the question itself had irritated him, Rian kicked off the wall and vaulted onto the roof. The air cracked. Wind burst outward, and his body shot up into the empty sky.
Once he was past the ruined buildings, the inner castle showed itself far ahead.
"Rupia?"
He turned his head. Opposite the inner castle, in the heart of the outer castle—
"There she is."
It was the other elite Sand Howler the knight had spoken of, shifting a body nearly five meters long as if to parade its own grandeur.
"Graaaaaaah!"
A long, rending tear split the air. But under the blade of Rupia—rampaging, drenched head to toe in blood—that enormous body came apart in dozens of pieces.
"Tsk."
Watching the chunks of flesh collapse, he felt a brief stab of regret at the waste. He shoved the thought aside and looked toward the inner castle.
"Not many left! Hold the right side first!"
"Hey! Back there! Watch behind you!"
...Doesn't look all that serious.
Up on the walls, higher than those of the outer castle, soldiers were fighting desperately to hold the monsters back.
"...Hm."
The inner castle's gate still stood. Aside from the three Sand Howlers he had just encountered, the rest of the horde must have been of no great quality; their corpses lay strewn through the streets inside the outer walls.
"Squeak! Squeeeak!"
"Die! Just die already!"
A soldier swung his sword and took the head from a fallen monster. The twitching body of the rat-shaped creature collapsed completely.
"...Tsk."
At that rate, ten minutes. Twenty at the outside... No. This isn't the time.
Rian slapped both cheeks, the crack of it sharp in the air, and swept a quick look over the monsters still lingering near the inner castle.
...I need to hurry.
He kicked hard off the roof. The air detonated around him, and he flew straight for the inner castle.
Kebeg Sahar stood upon the castle wall, eyes fixed on the horizon.
At first he had taken it for an ordinary monster horde. He had been wrong. There were far too many of them, and they had come far too fast.
"My lord!"
A retainer cried out, desperate.
"Even now, we must abandon the territory and flee!"
Kebeg said nothing.
...If we flee, we may yet live. But we cannot take every soul of this land with us...
"Hundreds of Grade 6 monsters, and three Sand Howlers."
"...Yes, my lord."
Kebeg bit his lip. Sturdier though the inner castle was than the outer, it had its limits. They ought to have fled the moment the monsters showed themselves on the horizon. Late regret was closing over him when—
...Wait.
A name surfaced, unbidden.
Kaisén.
No. Viscount Rian.
That letter had been clear...
If he set out the moment permission was granted, he would be near enough to arrive by tomorrow. Had it not said as much?
"...Viscount Rian."
Kebeg murmured the name, and the decision came at once.
"We hold the inner castle. Reinforcements will arrive soon."
"My lord!"
"I will hear no further objections."
His voice left no room for argument.
"Gather every resident who cannot fight inside the lord's manor."
"...Yes, my lord!"
Doubt rose on the retainers' faces, but not one of them dared object again.
That was when it happened.
"My lord!"
A soldier came running.
"Monsters have entered the inner castle!"
"What?"
Kebeg shot to his feet.
"Has the gate been breached?"
"No, my lord! The gate is still holding!"
The soldier forced the rest out between gasps.
"Some of them scaled the walls. They are faster than we expected, and others are climbing in a swarm. We cannot hold them all!"
"Damn it..."
"Their numbers are not great, but some may be coming this way...!"
Steel hissed as Kebeg drew his sword.
"I will go myself."
"You must not!"
The steward threw himself into his lord's path.
"You cannot go out now, my lord. At the very least, the blood of this house must—"
"The territory is about to fall, and you fret over bloodline—!"
The shout broke off.
Bloodline.
His wife was hiding in the lord's manor. His wife's brother, Kerel, was fighting alongside the knight order. But...
"...My daughter."
Kebeg's face went hard as stone.
"Where is Stella?"
A heavy thud. Then a scream, long and raw.
"...Huh?"
At the sound beyond the window, a white-haired girl turned her head. She had been telling herself she had misheard, trying her best to ignore it, but the noise would not stop. Now it was close enough that she could no longer pretend.
Stella pushed the blankets aside, climbed down from the bed, and started toward the sound. The terrace lay behind curtains so thick and long they might have shut the world out entirely. She drew one back just far enough to open a narrow gap, and light spilled through.
"...Kieee...!"
"Eek!"
The grotesque cry was far closer than she had thought. Stella startled and snatched her hand from the curtain.
...Screaming?
The building was shaking, and that unnatural wail came with every tremor. Carefully, the girl opened the curtain—and her body locked where she stood.
"Gyaaah!"
"Gahahaha!"
"Get out from under the roof! Get clear!"
People were running. Knights she had never seen were shouting as they fought the monsters.
"Wh-what...?"
Before she knew it, she had stepped out onto the terrace. Black smoke climbed from several collapsed buildings. The reek of blood hung thick enough to taste.
"Ah..."
No words would come.
Then, from below, a knight's voice she knew.
"Huh?!"
Someone was looking up at her. The realization made Stella's shoulders jerk.
"My laaaady!"
"S-Sir Riven...!"
At that desperate cry she finally looked down. The knight's face was white with shock, and his finger was stabbing toward the sky.
"My lady! Above you!"
...Above?
The girl lifted her head.
"Ah...!"
"Kieeeek!"
A black shape blotted out the sky, swelling larger by the instant. It slammed down with a crash that shook the stone.
"Kyaaaa...!"
Stella squeezed her eyes shut and stumbled back. Her slight back struck the wall, and a groan tore out of her.
"Kiek, kieeeeek...!"
A massive monster, something like an enormous desert lizard, lay sprawled across the terrace floor, too stunned by the impact to find its feet.
"Aaah...!"
Slowly, the lizard raised its head. Its narrow pupils shifted and fixed upon the girl, and her body went stiff, as if the very sight had paralyzed her.
I'm scared...!
"My lady, get back inside!"
Riven shouted it as he sprinted for the building's entrance.
"Kiiieeeek!"
But the monster crashed onto the terrace blocked the way back to her room.
"...N-no...!"
Stella's voice shook as she cried out.
Riven had just started for the stairs when two monsters burst from the alley.
"Out of the way!"
He swung and cut one down. The other lunged, and he had no choice but to bring his sword up again.
On the terrace, the monster hauled itself upright. Trembling violently, the girl began to retreat along the wall. One step. Two. Something caught her across the hips with a dull knock.
"Ah..."
Her light body tipped backward, and the terrace railing slid out of sight.
"My laaaady!"
Sir Riven's scream reached her ears.
...S-save me...!
Cold wind raked down her spine. Stella clenched her eyes shut. She was dead. She knew it.
And yet.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, and a face swam through her spinning vision.
Hair black as pitch. A man who gave off cold the way other men gave off heat. He had her in one arm; the other hand gripped a sword driven into the wall, and by that anchor he held them both. She saw him in profile.
"...You all right?"
"...Uh."
It was the face she had drawn, again and again, in her dreams.
"Y-you...!"
She could not have said why. Her mouth opened of its own will, and a name fell out.
"...Lord Raven?"
He said nothing.
Then the air rushed past her.
"Kyaaaa!"
Stella's light body was flung upward, shooting into the sky, and her consciousness began to fray. A rending tear. A shriek. A dying cry. The sound of a sword cleaving through monster flesh.
Through her darkening sight, his voice reached her. Real or dream, she could not tell.
"...I am!"
...I am...?