Chapter 280: Signal (8)
Chapter 280: Signal (8)
Translation: Godtl
The thundering hooves of the Roah Knights shook the earth as they charged forward.
Unlike their usual disciplined and orderly selves, their formation was slightly askew, and their speed betrayed a sense of urgency.
Yet, Commander Silvain paid it no mind. None of the knights bothered to correct their formation.
In truth, no one had the luxury to care about such things right now.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—!!
Instead, the knights' horses only accelerated further, as if sensing the rising fury of their riders, charging faster and more fiercely.
In the blink of an eye, they reached Manggot.
The faces of Manggot's forces came into view of the knights.
The fools who dared to wage war against the Empire.
The despicable wretches who conspired with the Monsters of the Outside.
The filthy bastards who shattered the Barrier and slaughtered soldiers and knights alike.
The moment those faces became visible, Silvain and his knights' patience finally snapped.
"KILL THEM—!!!!"
A shout utterly unbefitting of a knight—let alone Silvain—yet one that served as a perfectly clear command.
"RAAAAAH!!"
The knights charged with the sole intent of slaughter.
Crunch, crack!
Screeeech!!
They trampled those too slow to react, grinding them into the dirt.
"Ugh—! Aaah, AAAAAH!!"
"It's the Roah Knights! The Roah Kni—gurk!"
Amid the chaos from Mei and Selena's ambush, the Roah Knights smashed into the right flank of the enemy.
Those trampled even once had no chance of survival, and even those who barely dodged were cut down by the knights' precise strikes, collapsing with limbs severed.
"Guh...!"
Meanwhile, Mei and Selena, seeing the knights' arrival, had already retreated—but they were still wary of being caught in the unexpectedly fierce momentum.
Just then, a riderless horse galloped toward them from the distance.
Selena recognized it instantly.
"Cassian!"
Cassian landed neatly beside Selena, and she lightly placed a hand on his body.
"......You too? Did Lord Frondier send you?"
Cassian simply stared at Selena in silence. It was unclear whether he understood or not.
Selena took that as an answer and smiled faintly.
"......Let's go!"
She mounted Cassian and extended a hand to Mei.
"Whoever you are, get on!"
"......!"
Mei was momentarily startled.
Her current appearance was that of Adela, one of Manggot's Shepherds—since she had copied her. Selena obviously knew that face.
Of course, Mei didn't know Selena, nor whether Selena knew Adela personally. But Selena offering a hand to a stranger was undeniably strange.
"Hurry!"
At Selena's urging, Mei took her hand and climbed on behind her.
Cassian smoothly retreated from the battlefield, and once they had some breathing room, Selena turned to Mei.
"So, who are you? Why were you wearing a mask and jumping into such a dangerous place?"
"......A mask?"
Mei tilted her head innocently, prompting Selena to glance back at her. Cassian was practically self-driving at this point, so Selena didn't need to focus on steering.
"That face—it's someone I know. But since that person is from Manggot, I thought someone was wearing a mask to imitate them. Was I wrong?"
"......I don't know what you mean by 'mask,' but..."
Mei hesitated briefly before admitting,
"I was imitating her."
As she spoke, she reverted to her original form.
Chestnut-brown hair. The face that resembled Frondier and Elodie.
"......!"
Selena's jaw dropped in shock. Had Mei transformed without hesitation, she might have screamed.
During the war with Manggot, Selena had barely been able to approach Frondier. As a result, she knew nothing about the Imperial Palace's Devil incident or Mei.
"Is that your real face?"
"Yeah."
"It hasn't been long since I got my real face," Mei answered briefly.
Looking at that face, Selena thought:
'...She looks like Frondier.'
Mei didn't just vaguely resemble Frondier—if one had to describe it, she gave the impression of logically resembling him.
With Frondier and Elodie's appearances blended together, she resembled them even more than a child would their parents, and the aura she exuded was similar too.
"What's your name?"
"Mei."
"Mei, I'm Selena."
Mei nodded briefly at the introduction, then suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke up.
"Ah, Selena... Frondier—"
At those words, Selena's eyes widened.
"Y-you know Lord Frondier?"
"Yeah, I'm... learning various things from him."
Learning? What?
What could Frondier possibly be teaching such a young child?
Was it not just a coincidence that she thought they looked alike?
"Frondier told me about you."
Mei's quiet words.
With that single sentence, all of Selena's thoughts cleared away, and she grew curious about what had been said.
"W-what did he say?"
"Hmm, that you're his guard."
It was a simple statement. An obvious fact, too.
Just as Selena felt slightly disappointed—
"But actually, he said he lied about that."
"...What?"
—'Selena is still my guard, so I guess I lied.'
"That's what he said. He muttered it to himself, but I couldn't understand it, so I kept remembering it."
"......"
"Do you know what he meant?"
Frondier's puzzling words, relayed by Mei.
Tilting her head just as Mei had with her puzzled expression, Selena suddenly recalled her last conversation with Frondier.
—Selena, about farewells.
—It means severing the roles we've built together.
—So you're no longer my guard.
Frondier had said those words right before parting with Selena.
They were meant to prompt Selena's honest feelings—to free them from formalities and pretenses, to lift her head and speak her mind.
So Selena had raised her head and met Frondier's gaze. Her honest feelings had surfaced in her expression, turning into tears.
Yet Frondier had told Mei:
That saying she wasn't his guard was a lie.
Which meant—
'He still considers me... his guard.'
Selena blinked for a moment.
Though Frondier had mostly been authoritative and stern in front of her, over time, Selena remembered his expression gradually softening.
When they first met, he had only seemed intimidating.
But as she came to know him bit by bit, Frondier sometimes appeared just like a boy his age.
Even though that was only natural.
That natural expression surfaced in Selena's mind, making her tilt her head slightly.
She could almost hear his voice, like a whisper in the wind:
—'If I said it was a farewell, does that mean I'd have to rehire her as my guard if I want to bring her back? Wait, I didn't even fire her in the first place. Can't I just say it was all a lie?'
It was clearly nothing more than Selena's imagination.
But it felt like something Frondier would seriously agonize over.
And it felt like it would leave Selena—who naturally still considered herself his guard—utterly dumbfounded for a moment.
"...Pfft."
In the end, Selena burst out laughing.
Seeing this, Mei asked:
"Did you figure it out? What did Frondier lie about?"
At Mei's question, Selena lightly shook her head.
"No."
Selena's gaze, fixed ahead, was clear—as if all the dust of the battlefield had been washed away.
"There was no lie."
The Shepherd of Manggot, Andika, was furious beyond measure.
No sooner had Manggot's forces gathered than two women started fighting inside, and suddenly, the knight order stormed in, reducing most of them to pulp.
"Y-you damn... bastards...!"
Amid the chaotic battlefield, his sword burned crimson. His rising bloodlust took form as Aura, targeting the knights.
Most of Roah's knights noticed the killing intent and turned their eyes toward him, but the other knights around them—and above all, the enemies before them—took priority.
"I'll tear them apart right now!"
Just as Andika was about to charge forward in his fury, someone grabbed him.
"Calm down!"
It was Beso, another Shepherd.
"Calm down?! You want me to leave those half-baked tin cans alone?!"
"Look there!"
Beso pointed toward the Barrier.
The original purpose of Manggot gathering here. The Northern Barrier was already shattered, and the hastily patched ice wouldn't hold for long. It was on the verge of collapsing under the monsters' assault.
"Even if we were lured here, the Barrier being broken is an undeniable fact! Most of our Shepherds are gathered here now! We must cross the Barrier!"
"......So you're saying we should abandon Manggot's flock here and cross the Barrier alone?"
Andika's voice dripped with disgust. If the Shepherds left now, the remaining members of Manggot would all fall to the blades of Roah's knights.
Yet, gripping Andika by the collar, Beso shouted back.
"Yes!! Aren't we the Karma Fire?!"
"......!"
At those words, Andika gritted his teeth and scanned his surroundings.
Many Shepherds had already arrived besides the two of them.
Objectively, Beso was right. The monsters were swarming toward the broken Barrier. Naturally, the soldiers and knights would follow.
Even with the current numbers, they could easily exploit the gaps in the Empire's forces. Though many had died, none of the Shepherds were injured.
"......Fine. My resolve was weak. Let's go!"
Though Andika wasn't the official leader among the Shepherds, his change of heart served as the signal to begin.
They all rushed toward the Barrier. For Shepherds of their caliber, scaling such a height was trivial.
Under normal circumstances, the knights would have hindered them, but with the Barrier shattered, they had no time to interfere. The Shepherds easily reached the top.
"No time to hesitate!"
Though the Empire's soldiers belatedly noticed them, the Shepherds ignored most and leaped over the Barrier.
Finally, Manggot had crossed the Barrier.
'We can't use Shadow Transference yet!'
Now that they'd crossed, they wanted to gather all of Manggot's members, but it wasn't the time.
They had only just breached the Barrier. Toppling the Empire still required a long journey ahead.
First, they needed to escape this place, scatter into uninhabited areas, and completely shake off pursuit.
"I've heard the Empire has someone who can share the vision of key figures! Don't let even a single one escape!"
"Understood!"
The Shepherds advanced swiftly.
Directly in their path, a lone man was pacing.
Their eyes locked instantly.
In this situation, it didn't matter if the enemy was a knight, a soldier, or even a civilian.
Just one person—they could kill him in an instant and move on.
The Shepherds decided who would clear the obstacle, drew their weapons, and charged.
Swish!
They slashed through the man blocking their way and passed by.
The lack of resistance was slightly puzzling, but as long as they weren't hindered, it didn't matter. They pressed on—time was of the essence.
However.
"......?"
Roah Swordsmanship
Aitze Original
Imaginary Falling Palm
No matter how urgent they were, no matter how ready they were to sacrifice their lives for the Karma Fire—
Thud!
Their weapons clattered to the ground, and nothing went as planned.
"!!"
The Shepherds turned to look at the man they had just passed.
All of them had dropped their weapons around him, having run several paces before realizing it.
Just as described—'without feeling a thing.'
"Manggot."
The man who had stopped them—no, who had no choice but to stop them—
Extended his long spear to the side and lightly rested it on the ground.
"I heard you were comparable to the Empire's Zodiac."
His sharp eyes scrutinized each Shepherd one by one.
His appearance, his skill—the Shepherds knew exactly who he was.
'Aitze de Roah!'
The mysterious technique that forced opponents to drop their weapons—the Falling Palm.
They had heard of it, but they never imagined it would be this silent.
A pinnacle of skill that made its victims unaware they had even been struck.
As they belatedly tensed against Aitze, he spoke, sounding displeased.
"Are you stronger barehanded?"
It was a perfect taunt, but Aitze meant every word.