Chapter 321: Role (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 321: Role (1)
The captain of the First Royal Guard, Jerome Saintred, was a young knight in his mid-twenties who took up the position following the Blood Knight's slaughter of the former captain.
"If we hadn't learned about this ancient shelter in advance, it could have ruined our plan." Jerome brushed his short silver hair back out of his face and headed down the dark stairs.
The reason this man was in the basement of Noark's castle and not in the eastern district, which was currently a battlefield, was simple. The offer the palace made to the castellan to keep quiet about this city if he helped them exterminate Orcules was merely an excuse to bring Rafdonia's troops here. The palace's objective had been something else from the very beginning: the Fragment of Records Stone, an item that, according to the information provided by a close confidante of Noark's lord, was always worn by the lord in the form of a necklace. Of course, Jerome was not well informed about what this item was, but since he had been given his orders, he had to return to the palace with it somehow.
Tap.
Jerome, who was walking down the steps, stopped in his tracks. He had discovered a body lying on the stairs. The cause of death was a blow to the occipital region, which he believed had been caused by a blunt object. Even his equipment had been stripped and the man was practically naked.
Jerome bent down and touched the wound.
And the time of death... thirty minutes ago at most.
His face hardened. Someone had infiltrated this place first, and there was a high chance that their target was the castellan who was hiding below. Was the intruder still down there?
Dash.
Jerome quickly ran down the stairs. Before long, he reached a wide-open stone gate and a big passageway, but the only thing waiting for him there was the corpse of a bloated, middle-aged man. Once again, the body showed signs of being struck by a blunt object.
I don't know who it was, but I'm a moment too late.
Jerome bit his lip in frustration but speedily inspected the scene of the incident. The most important thing, the Fragment of Records Stone, was not there. Judging by the cuts on the lord's neck, it seemed it had been pulled off with force.
To think there was someone else after it.
Momentarily stunned by this unexpected turn of events, Jerome quickly went back the way he came. It was still too early to give up.
They couldn't have gotten far in thirty minutes.
He had to find them.
***
Auril Gavis had said, "A timeline once observed cannot change." Certainly, as he said, it might be impossible to change the future completely. But what if the observation itself was wrong? For example, what if I could make young Amelia believe her older sister was dead? And then, what if I could make Laura hide her identity for twenty years? Wouldn't it be possible to save her then? The idea sent shivers down my entire spine, but before long, I was met with a major obstacle.
"That day, my sister died in my arms."
Amelia saw her sister's death firsthand. Just as I had with Dwalkie in the Labyrinth of Larcaz, Amelia watched the light leave Laura's eyes. How on earth could I fake that? I had no idea. It wouldn't be easy to convince Amelia, someone who had already killed countless people despite her young age, that her sister was dead.
Well, I'm sure it'll work out somehow.
It felt like I was back to square one, but the thought didn't feel as daunting as before. That was because the castellan said so himself that once all of our work here was done, the Fragment of Records Stone would activate on its own. In other words, there was still work for me to do here. So what was the role I had to fulfill? That was obvious.
Kwaaang!
I ran all the way to the alchemist's place and busted through the door with my shoulder. There was a chance that the door was already open, but so what? Probability was just a number. And so I decided to put my all into every moment.
"A-Agh!"
"What the—?" When I smashed through the door, I found a startled old man in a corner of the workshop. But it wasn't Marfa Ipaello, the owner of this room. "Who are you?"
"I'm..." The old man frantically averted his eyes in a very transparently suspicious way.
Huh?
When I inspected the old man's attire, an unusual brooch at the front of his robe caught my eye. "Are you an alchemist?" The old man flinched at my question, which was answer enough.
Just in case any guards were hiding nearby, I remained on guard as I stepped forward. In turn, the old man stepped back and blurted out an excuse. "Ah, this is a misunderstanding! It's a misunderstanding! I never meant to steal anything..."
"I see." No wonder he was startled like someone who had been caught red-handed doing something he shouldn't be. This man had taken advantage of the chaos to come steal something.
"I-If you keep this matter a secret, I will surely—"
There was no reason to prolong this conversation. It looked like he'd given even his own guards the slip to pull off this heist.
Smack!
As a non-combatant, the alchemist had no hope of defending himself as I lunged forward and slammed the hammer down on the top of his head.
"Wow, you even have a sub-space." I didn't have much time so I just stole the alchemist's ring before hurriedly searching the workshop, soon finding the item I was looking for: the prototype of the Blessing of Lethe. When consumed, it would cause you to forget all of your memories.
Okay, that's the first item on my checklist.
It was now time to go find Amelia. This was a world without phones, but although we hadn't established a set meeting place or time, that was no problem. Since six hours had passed since I'd fallen asleep, she was probably busy being chased right about now. I had to hurry.
"Found you." I quickly turned around at the sound of a voice from the doorway and saw a silver-haired knight. "Give me the Fragment of Records Stone."
What was this son of a bitch talking about?
***
The Traitor, Ricardo Lüchenprague, was once called the Sword Master. Anyone who had seen him wield a sword or dealt with him in person all said the same thing: that his swordsmanship was different from that of an ordinary knight.
Whooom!
An aura fluttered at the tip of his sword. That in itself was not special. The aura was spread thin to reduce energy consumption and gave off a certain sharpness, but that was all. The aura did not boast a mountainous vigor like the Knight of Light's nor change its form like the Knight of Moon's. But despite that, this man's sword was superior to theirs, not because of the aura but because of his technique.
Slice!
"Agh! H-Help me!"
Not a single one of the hundreds of adventurers blockading the eastern district could withstand a singular strike of his sword.
"We have to run—! Agh!"
Anyone standing in his way was cut down. If they dodged, the sword seemed to reach their escape route before they did. Anyone could see it was a crude technique. The elaborate techniques favored by most knights were nowhere to be seen. But Amelia still could not take her eyes off the sword.
Kwaaang!
I ran all the way to the alchemist's place and busted through the door with my shoulder. There was a chance that the door was already open, but so what? Probability was just a number. And so I decided to put my all into every moment.
"A-Agh!"
"What the—?" When I smashed through the door, I found a startled old man in a corner of the workshop. But it wasn't Marfa Ipaello, the owner of this room. "Who are you?"
"I'm..." The old man frantically averted his eyes in a very transparently suspicious way.
Huh?
When I inspected the old man's attire, an unusual brooch at the front of his robe caught my eye. "Are you an alchemist?" The old man flinched at my question, which was answer enough.
Just in case any guards were hiding nearby, I remained on guard as I stepped forward. In turn, the old man stepped back and blurted out an excuse. "Ah, this is a misunderstanding! It's a misunderstanding! I never meant to steal anything..."
"I see." No wonder he was startled like someone who had been caught red-handed doing something he shouldn't be. This man had taken advantage of the chaos to come steal something.
"I-If you keep this matter a secret, I will surely—"
There was no reason to prolong this conversation. It looked like he'd given even his own guards the slip to pull off this heist.
Smack!
As a non-combatant, the alchemist had no hope of defending himself as I lunged forward and slammed the hammer down on the top of his head.
"Wow, you even have a sub-space." I didn't have much time so I just stole the alchemist's ring before hurriedly searching the workshop, soon finding the item I was looking for: the prototype of the Blessing of Lethe. When consumed, it would cause you to forget all of your memories.
Okay, that's the first item on my checklist.
It was now time to go find Amelia. This was a world without phones, but although we hadn't established a set meeting place or time, that was no problem. Since six hours had passed since I'd fallen asleep, she was probably busy being chased right about now. I had to hurry.
"Found you." I quickly turned around at the sound of a voice from the doorway and saw a silver-haired knight. "Give me the Fragment of Records Stone."
What was this son of a bitch talking about?
***
The Traitor, Ricardo Lüchenprague, was once called the Sword Master. Anyone who had seen him wield a sword or dealt with him in person all said the same thing: that his swordsmanship was different from that of an ordinary knight.
Whooom!
An aura fluttered at the tip of his sword. That in itself was not special. The aura was spread thin to reduce energy consumption and gave off a certain sharpness, but that was all. The aura did not boast a mountainous vigor like the Knight of Light's nor change its form like the Knight of Moon's. But despite that, this man's sword was superior to theirs, not because of the aura but because of his technique.
Slice!
"Agh! H-Help me!"
Not a single one of the hundreds of adventurers blockading the eastern district could withstand a singular strike of his sword.
"We have to run—! Agh!"
Anyone standing in his way was cut down. If they dodged, the sword seemed to reach their escape route before they did. Anyone could see it was a crude technique. The elaborate techniques favored by most knights were nowhere to be seen. But Amelia still could not take her eyes off the sword.
"M-Miss Emily. W-We need to run..."
Something about his swordsmanship felt unnatural. It was a swordsmanship that had been tirelessly optimized for one thing and one thing only—to kill.
"What are you all doing?! Get over here!" When the one-sided massacre began, Clan Leader Felic Barker began preparing to flee with his clan members. Amelia could not sit back and watch this happen. The reason she had hung around these people for the past several months was this very moment.
"Felic Barker."
"Huh?" The moment Felic turned his head at the sound of his name, Amelia embedded a thin needle in his neck. "...Uh, huh?" His body went as rigid as a stone statue, head still turned. Amelia hoisted him onto her shoulder. "What is the meaning of this...?!"
The clan members belatedly realized what was going on and aimed their weapons at Amelia, but that wasn't a big problem.
"How dare you betray us?!"
It was not a betrayal, because she never thought of them as her comrades in the first place.
Slice!
Amelia decapitated the clan member who came closest. Then, sure enough, the enraged adventurers slowly shuffled back and seemed to weigh their odds before finally running away, leaving their captured clan leader behind.
"Ugh, whatever!"
"Never mind, let's just go!"
She'd expected them to react like that. The Traitor was carrying out a massacre and getting closer and closer. Those men would have no reason to risk their lives for the clan leader, unlike these two here.
"...Please let go of that man." The moment the young girl who used to be her past reached out to her, she heard the sound of something slicing through the air behind her.
Whip!
Amelia twisted her body to the side to move out of the way, then used the rotational momentum to kick her attacker's wrist away.
Clang!
The dropped sword skittered across the ground, and she saw a girl holding onto her numb wrist in pain. It was her older sister, Laura Rainwales.
"Amelia, let's run!" As soon as she deemed the situation too dangerous, Laura took her younger sister and ran, and Amelia just watched.
She felt her chest tighten. She knew why these girls were trying to save Felic even though the other clan members had fled. It wasn't out of loyalty, but due to the shackles Felic had placed on Laura. Unhealthy Contract involved all kinds of unfair conditions, but there was one critical one. The moment Felic Barker received a wound that put him in near-death condition, he would receive all of Laura's life force. That was why those two had stayed behind.
But when even that failed, the reason Laura ran without looking back was Amelia. In that brief moment, her sister accepted her death if it meant Amelia could escape.
Grit.
Her jaw subconsciously tightened. It was only a three-year age difference. When she was young, her older sister felt even bigger than an adult, but now she knew. Even then, her sister was only seventeen. There was no way Laura didn't feel burdened by her lot in life, and there would definitely have been times she wanted to give everything up and run away.
Dash.
Amelia ran forward with Felic stiff as a log on her back.
Slice!
She headed toward the place where a particular man stood like a beast in a crowd of herbivores. He was pursuing the hundreds of people running away in a panic, swinging his sword methodically. For the first time, however, an emotion appeared on his expressionless face. That emotion was curiosity. True, it must have been strange to see someone walk toward him while everyone else was running away, and with a strong man slung over her shoulder, at that.
Whooom!
The aura in Amelia's dagger turned black. This was an effect of a conversion skill called Power of the Abyss she had obtained from the rank-four monster Grabanich. When this skill was activated, all of her abilities, including Spirit Power and Dragon Power, were converted into Soul Power, which then became twice as efficient to use. The same went for auras, which used mana. This ability had served Amelia, who was born with low mana reserves, quite well.
Swish.
The moment she got within a certain distance, her blackened aura returned to its original color because of the special ability that Traitor had absorbed from one of the Lords of the Floor. This ability rendered all active and passive skills within a certain radius useless.
Yeah, so to put it simply... It's over now.
Even the Unhealthy Contract was inactive in here.
Tap.
When Amelia threw Felic from her shoulder, Lüchenprague cut him in half in a single breath.
Slice!
The body split in two with the quick squelch of bloodshed. She was a bit worried, but the Unhealthy Contract did not activate and heal his injury.
I guess I cleared one hurdle...
Because Amelia had escaped with her sister before seeing how Felic died back then, it was relieving to see for herself that her sister's life was no longer in his hands. But there was no time to think about things like that.
Having achieved her goal, Amelia quickly retreated. When she did, the traitor who hadn't uttered a single word while massacring dozens immediately chased after her and said, "I don't know what that was, but I do know that you used me."
It seemed he understood the gist of what had happened. For some reason, a word the barbarian once told her about popped into her head unbidden. It wasn't a particularly pleasant-sounding word, but unfortunately, there was no concise way of expressing the same sentiment in Rafdonia.
That place has a truly amazing vocabulary.
Amelia said the word without realizing it. "K-Kimochi..."
Apparently, this was a way of expressing gratitude toward an enemy who helped you.
"M-Miss Emily. W-We need to run..."
Something about his swordsmanship felt unnatural. It was a swordsmanship that had been tirelessly optimized for one thing and one thing only—to kill.
"What are you all doing?! Get over here!" When the one-sided massacre began, Clan Leader Felic Barker began preparing to flee with his clan members. Amelia could not sit back and watch this happen. The reason she had hung around these people for the past several months was this very moment.
"Felic Barker."
"Huh?" The moment Felic turned his head at the sound of his name, Amelia embedded a thin needle in his neck. "...Uh, huh?" His body went as rigid as a stone statue, head still turned. Amelia hoisted him onto her shoulder. "What is the meaning of this...?!"
The clan members belatedly realized what was going on and aimed their weapons at Amelia, but that wasn't a big problem.
"How dare you betray us?!"
It was not a betrayal, because she never thought of them as her comrades in the first place.
Slice!
Amelia decapitated the clan member who came closest. Then, sure enough, the enraged adventurers slowly shuffled back and seemed to weigh their odds before finally running away, leaving their captured clan leader behind.
"Ugh, whatever!"
"Never mind, let's just go!"
She'd expected them to react like that. The Traitor was carrying out a massacre and getting closer and closer. Those men would have no reason to risk their lives for the clan leader, unlike these two here.
"...Please let go of that man." The moment the young girl who used to be her past reached out to her, she heard the sound of something slicing through the air behind her.
Whip!
Amelia twisted her body to the side to move out of the way, then used the rotational momentum to kick her attacker's wrist away.
Clang!
The dropped sword skittered across the ground, and she saw a girl holding onto her numb wrist in pain. It was her older sister, Laura Rainwales.
"Amelia, let's run!" As soon as she deemed the situation too dangerous, Laura took her younger sister and ran, and Amelia just watched.
She felt her chest tighten. She knew why these girls were trying to save Felic even though the other clan members had fled. It wasn't out of loyalty, but due to the shackles Felic had placed on Laura. Unhealthy Contract involved all kinds of unfair conditions, but there was one critical one. The moment Felic Barker received a wound that put him in near-death condition, he would receive all of Laura's life force. That was why those two had stayed behind.
But when even that failed, the reason Laura ran without looking back was Amelia. In that brief moment, her sister accepted her death if it meant Amelia could escape.
Grit.
Her jaw subconsciously tightened. It was only a three-year age difference. When she was young, her older sister felt even bigger than an adult, but now she knew. Even then, her sister was only seventeen. There was no way Laura didn't feel burdened by her lot in life, and there would definitely have been times she wanted to give everything up and run away.
Dash.
Amelia ran forward with Felic stiff as a log on her back.
Slice!
She headed toward the place where a particular man stood like a beast in a crowd of herbivores. He was pursuing the hundreds of people running away in a panic, swinging his sword methodically. For the first time, however, an emotion appeared on his expressionless face. That emotion was curiosity. True, it must have been strange to see someone walk toward him while everyone else was running away, and with a strong man slung over her shoulder, at that.
Whooom!
The aura in Amelia's dagger turned black. This was an effect of a conversion skill called Power of the Abyss she had obtained from the rank-four monster Grabanich. When this skill was activated, all of her abilities, including Spirit Power and Dragon Power, were converted into Soul Power, which then became twice as efficient to use. The same went for auras, which used mana. This ability had served Amelia, who was born with low mana reserves, quite well.
Swish.
The moment she got within a certain distance, her blackened aura returned to its original color because of the special ability that Traitor had absorbed from one of the Lords of the Floor. This ability rendered all active and passive skills within a certain radius useless.
Yeah, so to put it simply... It's over now.
Even the Unhealthy Contract was inactive in here.
Tap.
When Amelia threw Felic from her shoulder, Lüchenprague cut him in half in a single breath.
Slice!
The body split in two with the quick squelch of bloodshed. She was a bit worried, but the Unhealthy Contract did not activate and heal his injury.
I guess I cleared one hurdle...
Because Amelia had escaped with her sister before seeing how Felic died back then, it was relieving to see for herself that her sister's life was no longer in his hands. But there was no time to think about things like that.
Having achieved her goal, Amelia quickly retreated. When she did, the traitor who hadn't uttered a single word while massacring dozens immediately chased after her and said, "I don't know what that was, but I do know that you used me."
It seemed he understood the gist of what had happened. For some reason, a word the barbarian once told her about popped into her head unbidden. It wasn't a particularly pleasant-sounding word, but unfortunately, there was no concise way of expressing the same sentiment in Rafdonia.
That place has a truly amazing vocabulary.
Amelia said the word without realizing it. "K-Kimochi..."
Apparently, this was a way of expressing gratitude toward an enemy who helped you.