Chapter 131
Chapter 131
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Fairy's Wrath
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Roooar!
The princess watched the blazing forest with arms crossed, a sinister smile on her face.
One corner of her mouth curled up, her features flushed by the fiery glow.
Clank.
A knight approached her side, bowing his head as he reported.
"The escape routes have been sealed."
"How many expected escape routes were there?"
"Twenty-three, Your Highness."
"Hmm."
The forest was so vast that blocking the escape routes wasn't easy.
But Princess Raviang knew.
She knew how much pride those bastards took in Boitra Forest.
They hadn't originally lived here, but it was like a spiritual homeland to them—a sacred site in its own right.
Long ago, they said their dragon ancestor died here and formed the forest itself.
'We burned their forest.'
Would they just quietly slip away?
No.
Those weren't the type to roll over so easily. If they were, they would've surrendered to the Empire ages ago or begged for their lives as slaves.
There was only one possible reaction to burning their forest.
"Soon, they'll come charging with fire in their eyes."
Individuals might differ, but a clan? They had things they revered, roots they clung to.
It was natural for intelligent beings to cherish their foundations.
Just as honoring ancestors was natural to value one's own existence and be valued in turn.
So they had to choose.
Lizard or dragon's heir.
"Your Highness, isn't the fire too intense? We might get hurt ourselves at this rate."
"Shut up. If you can't handle this much, go kill yourself."
Far from fear, the sight of flames engulfing the entire area only fueled her excitement. The brutal clash of spears and screams to come. Splattered blood vivid in her mind.
Tap, tap, tap.
The princess, sitting in her chair and jiggling her leg, suddenly froze.
Then she shot to her feet.
The ecstatic expression drained from her face in an instant.
A sea of flames roiled across the land.
Purple demonic energy swirled above the forest alongside the inferno.
"Ah... fuck."
Grooooaaar!
The conflagration consuming the forest twisted into a vortex.
A pillar of fire shot skyward, taking on a distinct shape.
It was like an incarnation of flame, a giant.
A calamity from the heavens.
"U, uaa... uaaaaah!"
The soldiers who had set the blaze were engulfed in flames in a heartbeat.
-Humans repeat their mistakes again.
A booming voice echoed across the battlefield.
The fire giant fixed its blazing gaze on the princess amid the imperial troops.
Her body shuddered.
"P-Princess! You must flee now..."
"It's a fairy, right?"
"Seems like it!"
Just as he started to urge her to escape.
The giant's mouth opened.
"Damn it! Protect the princess!"
"Its flames are pouring down!"
Kwaaaaaaaa!!
The inferno swallowed everything.
* * *
"As expected, you foresaw it."
"Obviously. When you see that many fairies gathered beyond what's normal, there's always a leader nearby."
And usually.
Those with something to protect turn fierce.
"Even a mere rat bares its teeth when cornered. You think fairies would just watch their home burn?"
"Indeed..."
Ignoring Serena's fear-filled eyes, he gazed at the burning forest and the fire giant.
The princess had made two clear mistakes.
First, burning the forest.
Second, charging fearlessly right into its heart.
'But that alone won't kill her.'
The Empire's princess.
Raviang was a named one.
She always carved out a role in the continent's major and minor events; her fate wouldn't snap easily.
She survived and survived with cockroach-like tenacity.
Enough that later, her epithet would even include "immortal."
So Kallias had no desire to show himself to her if he could help it.
No desire to draw her attention.
Her obsession was not to be underestimated.
"Let's go."
"You're not fighting? This is the perfect chance. The only moment to avenge our kin against those bastards..."
Most of the Dragonkin seemed to snort in agreement.
They weren't alone.
This forest.
Their ancestral woods were watching over them!
Such thoughts spread rampant.
Unfortunately, Kallias had to douse them with cold water.
"A fairy's wrath doesn't distinguish friend from foe."
Kallias boredly raised a hand.
Pointing toward where the fire giant raged.
"If you want to charge in there, I won't stop you."
A pillar of fire incomparable to the blaze rose, vibrations rippling from each step even here.
"..."
"..."
If hell existed, wouldn't it be that?
The Dragonkin fell silent, swallowing dryly. Reality check in an instant.
A fairy's power lay in nature's essence.
No different from a natural disaster—nothing good came from tangling with it lightly.
'Wielding that much power... must be a high-grade fairy.'
He considered approaching once, but decided against it for now.
It was already enraged, and whether Spirit Fragrance would work on a fairy that strong gave him pause.
'There'll be a better chance next time.'
Fairies weren't exclusive to this place.
And they didn't yield their territory easily.
He could always return and meet one then.
-Burn and die in your own flames!
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
Stomping the forest sent flames exploding outward.
A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering force.
'And the princess's power is stronger than expected.'
She's holding up better than thought.
Blocking the giant's flames with artifacts, carving a path with her spear.
The spear's power alone seemed enough for escape, but her belligerence held her back.
Fiery-tempered Princess Raviang.
Yet her spear was of a surprisingly calm nature.
Ssssizzle!!
The spear's outpouring power countered the flames, smothering them in smoke.
'Water Star Spear, rise.'
A surge of aqueous star energy from the princess quenched the blaze, cooling the heat. One of the Empire's rare multi-attribute spears wielding water and stellar power.
She showed no hesitation ahead, so she'd likely turn this crisis into growth without major harm.
'It'd be possible to kill her if I risked it...'
The Empire's princess, no less.
Bearer of imperial blood, with formidable skill and potential.
But still an unbloomed bud.
With the current situation and his full power, he could probably break her.
But.
'No need to go that far.'
Too soon.
She wouldn't be alone anyway.
There could be hidden powerhouses.
They wouldn't leave an imperial princess unguarded like that.
He couldn't rule out elites assigned to protect her in emergencies nearby.
'Doesn't add up cost-wise.'
No need to strain himself.
From the start.
"Her alive is better."
It'd help the kingdom.
The princess and prince's power struggle would wreck the Empire on its own.
Her nature was to tire those around her and ruin the Empire.
Trolling, in other words.
Leaving her be helped the kingdom more.
So his task was.
'First, let's go.'
No reason to fight anyway.
The quest wasn't combat.
[Retreat with the Dragonkin Clan]
-Take the last surviving Dragonkin and flee. Their blood calls for battle, but victory is impossible. Continuing the fight means annihilation.
Reward - [Goblin Gold]
"Master. Hurry..."
"Call me Kallias."
"Understood."
The Dragonkin elders had long been convinced.
Just retreat like this.
No need to exert himself.
'Boitra Forest isn't ripe for me yet anyway.'
As initially planned.
Kallias aimed for Sahara Holy Site.
That was enough for now.
Pulling his hood tight and grabbing the reins to follow the Dragonkin.
"Are you leaving?"
A seductive voice tickled his ear.
"...!!"
Whoosh! Startled, Kallias leaped back.
'She slipped past my senses.'
In her hand, a flanged mace. But that alone set his instincts screaming.
"..."
"Quite intriguing."
Her face was familiar.
Emerging slowly from the forest, illuminated by the blaze.
Light armor failed to hide her alluring figure and noble grace.
A subtle smile and violet lips exuded bewitching allure.
Kallias recognized her.
'The woman who painted me as a pervert.'
The one he'd rescued from kidnapping, only for her to frame him as the criminal.
"Someone from the Duchy."
The power emanating from her mace was no joke.
One hand held the mace, the other a coil of chain linked to it.
'Should've been more cautious before saving her.'
Not an imperial noble, yet she'd issued an imperial warrant.
That alone let Kallias guess her status.
Only one woman from the Duchy traveled with the princess.
'Lady Rebecca.'
Realization brought a sigh.
The princess was bad enough to meet, but this was worse.
"Long time no see. Mind taking off the hood? Can't see your face well."
She spoke with a sweet smile, but her eyes gleamed feral.
Kallias felt chills.
"Took me forever to find you. Hiding so thoroughly. Even with soldiers everywhere, they couldn't touch a hair on the noble savior. Said you commanded beasts? Do you serve the whip?"
One step. Another.
As she approached, Kallias backed away instinctively. No answer from him, yet she questioned and answered herself, delighted.
"But whip doesn't fit. When you saved me, the calluses on your hands weren't a whip-user's. So what then? Pilgrim from where? Which pilgrim's that handsome? Hehe, thought about it a lot. Fun chase, thinking of someone."
Kallias's eyes narrowed.
'Can't draw the sword.'
Instinct warned him.
Logic agreed.
Opponent: the Duchy's lady. Drawing steel would expose him.
His name and looks—slayer of a master—would've reached their ears.
For now, just curiosity.
No killing intent.
Decision made, Kallias drew a spear from his robe's Subspace.
A plain spear of named grade.
"Imperial? Nah."
"Just a pilgrim."
"Then why the spear? I'm not evil enough to harm my savior. Just want to repay you?"
Feigning innocence, Rebecca unconsciously hid her mace behind her back.
Absurdity chilled his gaze.
"This? Not for anything bad. Just protection?"
"Carry head-crushers for protection?"
Waist: mace. Hand: brutal spiked flanged mace.
Heavy even for a burly man, yet she wielded it casually.
"You keep running...! Still no answer to my feelings!"
"I refused clearly."
"I refuse your refusal!"
Staring like what now, she approached with a friendly grin.
"Fine, I'll set this down. Too heavy for a lady anyway. Wonder why I carry such a vicious thing."
Thud!
Looked heavy; felt immense.
Impact cratered the ground, ash billowing thick.
"Oh my."
"..."
Kallias's wariness deepened.
"Dangerous place. Princess crazy for battle's here—better flee fast. Come on."
As Rebecca extended a hand, Kallias leveled his spear.
"You can't use spears."
Near-certain tone.
Under the hood, Kallias smirked.
"Not wrong."
Whoooosh.
Spear tip glowed purple, sacred runes blazing.
"Three Realms' Sacred Relic, Kyugyo."
Rebecca paled, yanking her waist mace to parry.
Shrrrring!
Chains burst from the spear blade.
Twelve chains lunged at her from all sides like living serpents.
Clang—clangclangclangclang-!
"Wow, scared me. You can do cute tricks too?"
Genuine surprise in her smile.
Her mace struck each chain swift and precise.
'Heavier than expected.'
No ordinary divine art.
Her arms trembled faintly.
But no concern.
"Come on. Struggle more, and I'll have to crush an arm or leg! Hate to, though."
Whoosh!
Rebecca lunged in a blink.
Ecstasy lit her lips.
As her hand neared Kallias's hood.
His lips moved.
'Bi... Vivi?'
Instant.
A black shadow loomed over Rebecca's head, having caught his lips.
"!"
A massive wolf dove for her head.
"Very good, Vivi."
Oddly, the wolf's jaws clutched.
'A sword?'
A gleaming blade.
Groooowl!!
In one corner of the flame-shrouded forest.
A fierce blue lightning bolt struck down.