Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Rival #2
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Near the tavern.
In a quiet open lot where drunks sometimes slept under thin hides, a crowd of people had gathered, buzzing with excitement.
Inside the makeshift arena they'd formed, the two contestants for this bout were lightly warming up.
“Reminds me of the civil war five years ago. Back then, we smashed you Draco bastards too, didn’t we? Mirna Draco. Didn’t you get a good thrashing and run away that time?”
“Wasn’t it your side that ran? Lady Lioness. No matter how humiliating the experience, to twist it like that... Your head must be pretty empty.”
“What’d you say?”
Elga shot back casually and clapped her hands toward the sky.
Between her palms, something like a massive iron pillar began to form, coalescing into the shape of a huge halberd axe.
Zuuuuuung—.
“The ancestral weapon gets to taste Draco blood for once. Even if you surrender, I won’t show mercy. Not until you crawl between my legs.”
Whoosh, whoosh—.
Elga lightly swung the halberd left and right.
The onlookers gasped in awe at the sight of her wielding the heavy lump of metal like chopsticks and stepped back a few paces.
━That looks like a holy relic. Is she a hero?
━Draco... and Lioness from what she said. Folks from Angmar? Daughters of those great houses?
It seemed the crowd was finally piecing together who these fighters were.
Can’t anyone stop this fight?
I felt strangely anxious.
If they went ahead and fought recklessly, both getting badly hurt—or even one killing the other—it’d be a golden opportunity for me, Theo Angmar, to easily eliminate rivals.
But for some reason, I was on edge.
It was true that worries like “What if Elga gets hurt?” kept creeping in. I tried to ignore those feelings, but it wasn’t easy.
Just then, Elga jerked her chin at me.
“Hey, Theo. You judge. You’ve mediated duels plenty of times, right?”
“Ah, then, let Theo Gospel serve as witness and mediator for this duel. The rules of the duel are...”
“Skip the boring stuff. Just ring the bell to start.”
Elga was already raring to go. Just moments ago, she’d been purring cutely in bed, but the Elga now was a completely different person.
At this point, I wondered if what happened earlier was all in my head.
“Then, re—.”
I raised one hand high.
“a—dy.”
As it came down, Elga kicked off the dirt and charged at Mirna.
Her speed was astonishing for someone gripping such a massive axe. The ten-meter gap between them closed in an instant.
“Bye-bye, idiot—!”
Elga swung the halberd from low left to high right in a massive arc.
The holy relic ‘Pulverizer,’ soaked in blood from countless battles, hummed ominously as it cleaved the air.
Anyone struck by that would be more than bisected—Mirna Draco’s small frame would shatter into pieces.
No one doubted it—until a massive figure in black robes appeared and took the blow with its body.
Kwaaaang—. The sharp metallic clang suggested it had been blocked by armor.
“Blocked it?”
━…….
Elga snarled in fury at her attack being stopped, grinding her teeth and tensing her body.
“You think that changes anything?!”
Crunch, shaaa—.
The black-robed figure that had blocked the strike split in half and tumbled to the ground.
Thud, thud.
━Th-the body’s halved!
━Dead? Gotta be dead, right?
The crowd screamed and backed away further at the sight of the upper and lower halves rolling on the dirt.
But Elga and Mirna’s faces remained composed.
Mirna still had three more black robes, while Elga had her indomitable flesh and massive axe.
Clatter. Step.
Soon, two hulks rushed toward Elga. One gripped a spear, the other a sword.
“These small fries one by one are annoying...!”
Blocked from advancing, Elga yelled furiously at Mirna, who lounged behind them, casually fanning herself with a black fan.
“Hiding behind minions like a coward! Come fight me yourself!”
“No thanks. Now, go grab that wench and bring me her shoes.”
At Mirna’s command, the two black shadows lunged at Elga.
Of course, Elga swiftly swung her massive halberd the moment they entered her range.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Slash, shaaa—.
Her axe cleaved the heads of the charging black fiends from both sides, toppling them.
Thud. Thud.
Their bodies crumpled, leaving only Mirna—who hadn’t even assumed a stance—and the final fiend anchoring her rear.
“If I win, apologize to my ancestors, you bitch!”
Whoooaaang.
As Elga, who’d pierced their lines in a flash, raised her axe high—that’s when I couldn’t hold back and shouted.
“The last one’s no ordinary foe! Be careful!”
“What?”
“—Too late.”
Elga’s axe was already plummeting vertically. Stopping it would require immense strength and reflexes.
Elga had plenty of both.
Or so I thought.
“Hup—!”
Elga twitched like she’d been pricked by a needle at her waist.
“Urgh, my back...!”
In that split-second loss of control, the black-robed fiend behind Mirna Draco seized Elga’s throat.
Grip.
“Guhk—!!”
“Sluggish movements, Lady Lioness. Too busy licking Tarantella’s sweet ass, has your body gone soft? Especially that pathetic chest area.”
“Grrr, you little—!”
Even caught off-guard, Elga was a battle-hardened veteran from childhood skirmishes.
She flexibly raised her leg and smashed a kick into the black robe’s head.
Smaaack—!
That freed her from the grasp, allowing her to create distance.
“Damn—. I kicked with enough force to shatter you. Tougher than I thought? Fun.”
Rubbing her throat, Elga regained her composure. Her blue eyes locked on the foe.
Rustle.
Perhaps from her kick, the black robe slipped off. The crowd gasped and panicked.
━What the hell is that—.
━Bones...?
━A corpse...?
That’s right.
They’d finally realized the eerie truth hidden beneath the black cloth. Mirna Draco’s guards were all undead.
Living corpses.
And the most fearsome among them, radiating dread to the end, was the blue-eyed undead that had survived last.
━Bun’ yeuk’s An’ ha. Ket’v Jee.
As the blue-eyed wight opened its gaunt jaws and chanted, the corpses Elga had just beheaded rose again, reassembling their bodies.
Crunch. Crunch. Crack. Snap.
━Undead... controlling undead?
━An Elder Lich...? Only high mages or necromancers become undead like that....
Elga spat on the ground.
“Fuck. Disgusting Draco scum. Now I get it. That’s your father, huh? Mirna Draco. Psycho bitch using her own dad as an undead slave.”
“......”
Mirna Draco didn’t reply. Her cold expression twisted into a fierce scowl, as if the chill had been a lie.
Kids or beauties like her—angry faces on stunners always hit different, chilling to the bone.
But Elga kept yelling like she didn’t care.
“Alistair Draco—. The nightmare necromancer reduced to a lich enslaved by his halfwit daughter. Comedy gold.”
“Shut up...!”
“Making the father who devoted himself to the family keep slaving away even in death? Total ungrateful leech sucking her parents dry? Stuff a dutiful daughter like me couldn’t even imagine.”
“I said shut up...!”
Elga pressed her aggressive taunts relentlessly.
She was probably buying time, aware her body wasn’t at full strength, to recover.
Drip.
No one else noticed, but I spotted white fluid trickling endlessly down Elga’s calf.
“......”
And that unfamiliar foreign sensation in her lower abdomen was hindering her movements.
My fault?
From the creampie?
If that caused Elga to die to Mirna... I’d be wracked with guilt.
This fight had to be stopped.
Interrupting a duel as a third party was massively rude, but I couldn’t help it. Wasn’t I the official mediator?
Step.
So I approached between them as they distanced.
“As mediator, I request halting this duel for now. If it escalates further, it’ll cause trouble abroad. Tarnish Angmar’s standing and Her Majesty’s name.”
Foreign nuisance. Angmar’s national prestige. Queen.
I knew keywords like that wouldn’t stop them. But I had to bet on my acting chops and taming skill.
“What the hell, Theo Gospel. You interfering in the duel?”
Sure enough, Elga glared at me like I’d insulted her. My cheeks stung.
Mirna Draco snapped her black fan shut, looking furious.
“Daring to meddle in a great house’s affairs. Deeply insulting, Theo Gospel. Insulting and humiliating.”
What can I do?
I’m saving your lives. One of you will die if you keep going.
Of course, I couldn’t say that.
Then I felt eyes on me. The white-haired, blue-eyed lich: Alistair Draco.
━……….
Its hollow blue glow felt like it was reading my soul. Despite lacking pupils.
Even seemed to flicker with something like intelligence or will.
Possible? I thought necromancers’ undead were just puppets.
Tension spiked for a moment.
Rustle.
The blue-eyed skull turned away.
━Bul’ue yakk.
“...W-where are you going?”
Mirna Draco panicked, caught off-guard by the move.
“Don’t go! Come back! The duel’s not stopped! It’s not over! Obey my command! Hurry!”
She grabbed at her father’s remains, but the blue-eyed lich trudged away like it had lost the will to fight.
The wights marched through the parting crowd.
“What, running away? Cowards! Fleeing?”
Elga taunted their backs, but the undead ignored her and Mirna’s pleas, departing.
In the end, only Mirna remained.
Shivering like a cat doused in cold water, she pointed her fan at Elga.
“We’ll stop here for today! But since you’re in this city, don’t expect sweet dreams, Lady Lioness.”
Then she aimed it at me.
“And you...! Theo Gospel. I won’t forget today’s humiliation.”
With that, Mirna Draco vanished into the distance, following the wights’ path from our sight.
Whew—.
Only then could I finally exhale the breath I’d been holding. Mirna Draco. The epitome of a villainess.
Should’ve appraised her with Clairvoyance. Too hectic.
“Hey, Theo. Why’d you butt in like an idiot?”
Elga then knuckle-rapped my skull.
Thonk.
Stars burst before my eyes, a yelp escaping naturally.
“Hieeek...!”
「Such a nymph-like scream...!
Gained ‘Half-Fairy’ job EXP...! +50」
「Rewards for continued nymph-friendly actions...!
Job: Half-Fairy leveled up...!
Half-Fairy Lv. 4 → Lv. 5
Now you can do even more nymph-like, nymph-friendly things...!」
I wiped the tears and swiped away the floating text.
Elga grabbed my collar, hoisting me airborne. Breath caught, legs kicked wildly.
“Who told you to interfere? Why do shit I didn’t ask for?”
She looked pissed.
Interrupting a duel was worse than someone knocking mid-porn. I got it.
“And what was that? Who asked you to warn me of danger? Huh? Think I’d lose to Mirna Draco without your help?”
“But I didn’t want to see you get hurt even a little, Lady Elga.”
“...What’re you saying? Ridiculous.”
Only then did Elga drop me. She’d spoken boldly, but even she couldn’t be sure of the outcome if they’d continued.
She knew her body best.
And Mirna’s lich was the former Draco patriarch. No mere wight.
“Hmph.”
Elga lit a mana cigar from who-knows-where. Our eyes met briefly; she tucked it between her breasts and turned away.
“Annoying Draco bitches. Didn’t hear they were here. Looked like they were in uniforms. Arc students?”
“Seems so. Draco’s close with the Church.”
Undead seemed anti-faith, but surprisingly, Draco were devout Radiant Flame followers.
Wights, beasts, magic best proved God’s miracles. Or something like that.
Elga said,
“If I enroll at Arc, does that mean I’ll run into her every day?”
“Not necessarily. Lectures are elective, so same year won’t overlap if you avoid them. Anyway, any injuries?”
I checked Elga over. She looked fine outwardly.
But whatever trickled between her thighs kept nagging me.
I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and offered it.
Taking it, Elga blushed furiously. “Gonna step away a sec. Be back.” Then she vanished.
Staring at the spot where the golden-haired lady had gone, I felt anew how much was changing.
Tarantella, Lioness, Draco houses.
The most dangerous families’ key figures—three of them—in this city.
I hadn’t foreseen this.
Somehow, my stomach soured.
A crisis.
But handled right, a prime chance to crush my enemies and revive my house?
A firm resolve stirred from my lower half.
For now, biding time as Theo Gospel, not Angmar—but I’d tame those insolent girls to my will.