Chapter 16
Chapter 16
The Snowflower-Like Girl Falls for His Sake
Yuna and I followed behind Melaim.
She knew the layout of this place.
Or rather, the woman Sara—whom Melaim had eaten—knew it.
Tanya had only heard the explanation verbally from Melaim, yet she seemed to be moving around just fine.
Seriously impressive.
Yuna and I climbed for quite a while behind Melaim.
Why is this place so tall…?
And why are the stairs spaced out so ridiculously?
Then a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
“Wait. Didn’t they say the Count’s daughter was underground? Her name was… Prelia, right?”
“She probably is. But Tanya warned us not to rescue her too carelessly.”
“Tanya did?”
“Yes. She said if someone approaches the hostage now, it could make things more dangerous.”
Makes sense.
If they realize this whole commotion was staged to rescue the hostage, that would be a problem.
They might have assigned guards to Prelia under the excuse of protecting her from the undead attack.
And if strangers approached her now, they might threaten the hostage out of desperation.
“So we should act like we’re not interested in the hostage?”
“Exactly. And we need to create an even bigger incident so they won’t have time to think about the hostage at all.”
Right.
That was exactly what we were on our way to do.
Following Melaim, we entered the room of the bandit gang’s second-in-command.
Inside was a neatly dead body.
A man.
The moment Yuna saw the corpse up close, she gagged.
“Ugh…!”
“You okay?”
“Y-yeah… sorry. Let’s focus on what we came here for first.”
Looks like Yuna still hadn’t gotten over her aversion to corpses.
Come to think of it…
Had this been her first time seeing a human corpse up close while traveling with us?
…Wait.
Doesn’t she travel around with skeletons?
Aren’t those corpses too?
Ah, whatever.
Shaking off the useless thought, I asked Melaim,
“This the guy?”
“Yes. He’s the gang’s second-in-command. We should hide the body before anyone finds it.”
“Aren’t you supposed to eat him?”
According to Tanya’s plan, Melaim was supposed to eat this corpse and impersonate him.
Melaim shook her head.
“If possible, I’d rather not inherit the memories of disgusting men. Changing appearances alone doesn’t require eating them.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I could even take your form, or Yuna’s. Though without eating, I can’t copy memories or skills.”
As she said that, Melaim transformed into the dead man’s appearance.
“Blegh.”
This time it was Melaim?
What now?
“What’s wrong?”
“Ugh… taking a man’s form feels unpleasant. Let’s finish this quickly.”
“…Right.”
We headed straight for the bandit leader’s room.
Judging by Yuna’s expression, she looked mentally prepared already.
I asked her,
“Ready to open it?”
Yuna nodded grimly.
I opened the door.
And there—
The boss’s corpse was lying on the floor.
Tanya’s work, obviously.
“Tanya’s incredible… Do we even need to be here?”
She infiltrated alone.
Killed both the boss and the second-in-command alone.
Melaim answered,
“If you don’t have to plan an escape route, even assassinating a king isn’t impossible.”
“Huh…”
By the way, seeing Melaim talking like herself while wearing the face of a handsome middle-aged man felt incredibly weird.
When she transformed after eating someone, even the speech patterns changed naturally.
But now?
It was unsettling.
Melaim approached the boss’s corpse.
A dagger extended from her hand.
“It’s ready. Send the signal.”
Yuna gripped the orb in her hand, tightening and loosening her grasp over and over.
Right now, Pouw was probably roaring loudly.
At the same time, black energy would be flaring and fading repeatedly.
A visual and auditory signal.
By now, Tanya should’ve received it.
Time passed.
We remained in the boss’s room.
Melaim kept pretending to stab the boss’s corpse with her dagger.
Well…
Not pretending.
She was actually stabbing it.
Shouldn’t they be here soon?
By now, Tanya should have gone to fetch the third-in-command.
According to plan, she’d lure him here by saying something like,
“The boss is calling for you! In a situation like this, you’re the only one he can trust!”
Whether out of loyalty or ambition, the man would have no choice but to come.
And right on cue—
The door opened.
Tanya entered with the third-in-command.
The moment he saw Melaim in the form of the second-in-command, his eyes widened.
To him, it must’ve looked like the second-in-command had betrayed the boss and stabbed him in the chest.
And Yuna and I probably looked like his subordinates.
With fury in his eyes, he shouted at Melaim.
“You bastard!”
He charged.
But Tanya grabbed him and held him back.
“Stop! There are three of them!”
“Let go! I’ll kill him, and die here with him if I have to!”
Tanya stepped in front of him, pleading.
“If you die too, who are we supposed to follow?”
Who’s “we”?
You don’t even know his name.
Melaim sneered and pulled out a flask from her pocket.
Inside, green liquid bubbled dangerously.
Looked terrifying.
Though it was only made to look that way.
“Farewell.”
Melaim muttered and threw it.
The third-in-command froze in shock.
But Tanya shielded him.
“Look out!”
The flask shattered against Tanya’s body.
Green gas spread.
Tanya shoved him away, making sure he wouldn’t touch it.
Wouldn’t want him realizing it was harmless.
Blood began flowing from Tanya’s mouth.
Stage blood.
But the third-in-command didn’t know that.
Pushed back onto the floor, he stared at Tanya in confusion.
To him, she was a stranger.
A stranger who had just risked her life to save him.
Anyone would be shaken.
No matter how high-ranking he was, bandits didn’t inspire that kind of loyalty.
He stared at her, disbelief written all over his face.
“What is this…? Why…?”
Tanya coughed blood and spoke weakly.
“You don’t know who I am…”
Her voice trembled.
“But I know you.”
The man’s eyes shook.
Tanya kept speaking.
“To give my life for the man I love… it makes me happy.”
The third-in-command crawled toward her.
“Wait, wait! I don’t even know you yet!”
Tanya had said before—
Criminal groups are always paranoid.
Always afraid of betrayal.
They trust no one.
Not their men.
Not their allies.
And because of that, they can never forget devotion.
Never forget sacrifice made for them.
That was Tanya’s plan.
To use that to squeeze his heart.
And it worked.
He looked at her like a dying lover.
As if trying to burn her face into his memory forever.
He asked,
“Your name… What’s your name?”
Tanya smiled sadly.
“For someone as great as you to remember my name… that would be too much to ask. Please… escape now. Lead the men who follow you.”
“Wait… wait!”
Tanya’s performance reached its finale.
“That my final moments could be for your sake… makes me so happy…”
And with those words, she closed her eyes.
What incredible acting.
I almost applauded.
But the play wasn’t over.
Because the third-in-command kept going on his own.
“No…! No! Open your eyes! Please!”
Melaim, still disguised, frowned.
“Looks like the plan’s falling apart over one worthless woman.”
The third-in-command glared at her, veins bulging in his neck.
He looked like the tragic hero of some revenge story.
Even though he was just a bandit.
“You bastard…!”
“Will you let her sacrifice go to waste? That’s exactly what I want.”
The man gritted his teeth.
Looked between Tanya and Melaim.
Then turned—
And ran.
I pretended to chase after him, then stopped.
Wait.
Yuna was supposed to join me.
Why was she just standing there?
I looked at Yuna, who was covering her mouth with a weird expression.
“Yuna? What’s with that face?”
“I almost laughed… Ah!”
Yuna yelped and fell backward.
Because Tanya suddenly opened her eyes and grinned.
Seriously.
You know she’s alive.
Why are you startled?
“So? How was it? Did I do well?”
“Honestly? Incredible.”
“First time I’ve ever used that in a real situation. Seducing a man.”
What a horrifying skill.
Even a Demon King would faint.
Melaim, back in her usual form, commented,
“A truly wicked technique. That man will never forget the death of that nameless woman for the rest of his life.”
“Right? Though… ‘the rest of his life’ probably won’t be much longer.”
Tanya looked brighter than I’d ever seen her.
Was it because the plan worked?
Or because she’d killed a lot of people?
Probably both.
“Anyway, we’re going to rescue the hostage. Tanya, staying here?”
“No. I found a secret passage. If anyone tries escaping through there, I’ll deal with them. Ah, here.”
She tossed us a ring of keys.
Seriously capable.
…
The underground prison of the fortress.
There were many empty cells.
But only one had someone inside.
Not sure whether to call that lucky.
Tanya had said if there had been other hostages, they were probably already disposed of.
Melaim clicked her tongue.
Then approached the only occupied cell.
Inside was the girl we were looking for.
Prelia.
The moment she saw us, she curled into the corner and stared at us warily.
Silent.
Melaim gave her a gentle smile.
“There’s no need to be afraid. Count Kite sent us.”
“…Dad?”
Judging by how swollen her face was from crying, she’d been crying for a long time.
And on her cheek—
Bruises.
Those bastards.
“Do you remember our faces?”
Prelia thought for a moment.
“Ah… the people who brought Fair!”
She smiled brightly.
That smile, contrasted with the condition of her face, made me grit my teeth.
“The bear’s name, right? A fine name.”
“Right?”
Yuna muttered beside me,
“Because he’s a bear… Fair?”
No idea what she meant.
But Prelia had recovered a small smile.
“I’ll go for a bit. You two stay here and guard the child.”
“Go?”
“We rescued the hostage. But there’s still unfinished business.”
Right.
The Count’s request wasn’t just rescuing Prelia.
It was exterminating the bandits.
Killing every last one of them.
Right now, this fortress was under attack by undead led by the Death Knight.
And if Tanya’s plan worked—
The third-in-command should now be leading his men to attack the second-in-command’s faction.
Undead invasion.
Civil war.
In that chaos, Melaim and Tanya would finish the Count’s request.
Melaim stood.
And seeing her face—
I knew.
Not a single bandit would survive.
Her eyes were trembling with rage.
I hadn’t known her long.
But I’d never seen Melaim this angry.
Even though that anger wasn’t directed at me—
It sent chills down my spine.
Melaim walked out alone.
Just before she reached the surface, tentacles sprouted from her back.
She didn’t bother hiding them.
A silent declaration.
No survivors.
After Melaim left, I asked Yuna quietly,
“What about the skeletons?”
“Not many left. But I’m healing Pouw every so often, so he can hold out for a while.”
A strengthened Death Knight.
With healing support.
That’s terrifying.
Yuna and I found the right key and entered Prelia’s cell.
There was no point leaving yet.
Besides…
It wouldn’t be good for a kid to see what was happening outside.
By now, it was probably a sea of blood.
Then Prelia’s stomach growled.
“You hungry? Damn… we didn’t bring food.”
“Mhm… it’s okay! We’re going home soon, right?”
Yuna smiled and hugged her.
That’s probably a crime against nobility.
But we couldn’t leave a hungry kid like this.
“How about… I catch you some bugs or something?”
Prelia looked at me like I was disgusting.
Yuna too.
Prelia asked Yuna,
“Big sis, does this mister eat bugs too?”
“Apparently.”
“Ew… mister. You shouldn’t eat those.”
This is why spoiled kids are impossible.
“No, I’m the same age as this big sister here. So you should call me big brother.”
Yuna looked at me with utter contempt.
“Oppa freak.”
What does that even mean?
That’s so unfair.
Ignoring my wounded pride, Yuna looked at the girl in her arms.
“Oh right. Your name’s Prelia?”
“Yeah!”
“I’ll teach you something. Want to try?”
As she said that, Yuna summoned a skeleton nearby.
…
Count Kite’s Castle.
“Can we really leave this to adventurers? Are they truly trustworthy?”
The branch leader of the Adventurers’ Guild in Count Kite’s territory.
A middle-aged man.
In all his decades, he had never seen the Count this shaken.
“This is the best option available. We can’t deploy troops or a large adventurer force. You know that.”
“What about inviting top-ranked adventurers from the royal capital?”
“Too slow. And besides… those four are no worse than the capital’s adventurers.”
A four-person party that had appeared like a comet.
They cleared the long-abandoned Pouw Dungeon.
And subdued its boss, the Death Knight.
Of course, no one could say for sure they were stronger than the Death Knight.
Necromancers were a special class.
Maybe they had unique power over undead.
But the fact remained—
The Death Knight was now part of their force.
That alone proved their strength.
Even after the guild leader explained it, the Count’s anxiety didn’t fade.
“But… if they fail…”
The Count trembled, unable to finish.
The guild leader said nothing.
He too was a father.
He understood.
But couldn’t truly share the feeling.
Then—
The office doors burst open.
The Count and the guild leader turned toward the rude intruder.
It was a bear.
The guild leader had heard of Fair, but seeing a bear walk in on two legs and bow its head was far stranger than expected.
“Good grief…”
But the Count asked calmly,
“Sir Fair, what is it?”
“A command… A command has been issued to me for the first time.”
The Count frowned.
A command?
Fair was his daughter’s familiar.
Who could possibly command his daughter’s familiar?
Annoyance flashed through him.
Then realization.
The Count’s eyes widened.
“No way?!”
“A message from Lady Prelia… She said to tell you… ‘I’m on my way home, so don’t worry.’ That is all.”
The Count and the bear embraced each other and wept.