Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: She is Watching and She is Listening
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She was watching.
She was listening.
Though Eclair was alone, the time it took her to wipe out five branches was shorter than a hasty meal.
Flick-!
With every swing of her sword, the floor grew narrower, choked with piling corpses, and crimson blood spread across the walls.
Humans fallen into the abyss.
Cutting down black mages or their familiars felt no different.
'Endlessly chasing skirts and drowning in booze and gluttony as daily habits. They've long forgotten sword techniques, and their minds are shattered...'
These weren't people holding onto timeless ideals of revolution and rebellion, preparing in Limno to once more humiliate the Empire's imperial family.
She stopped walking forward, facing nothing but these pitiful wrecks.
Wasn't their leader Cutler Due, once called the rival of the Floyd family head, the fourth knight?
Yet the former knights under Cutlass were disappointingly pathetic to serve such a powerhouse as their leader.
'Not a shred of hesitation in judgment...'
The standout feature of the Cutlass group in Limno was that it consisted solely of humans, without a single subrace.
Beyond that trait, all they had to boast was the sheer depravity of members who were hard to believe were once knights.
A total of five.
Each time she raided a branch inhabited only by Cutlass members, Eclair furrowed her brow.
Whores addicted to drugs treated like toys. Subraces locked in iron cages, weeping to find their families and be sent home, subjected to sadistic acts.
All undeniable former knights of the Empire. Once respected by the people, singing songs of honor.
Did Limno, the city of revelry, corrupt these honorable souls and drive their minds mad?
Absolutely not.
They were trash like this from the start. This was their true face.
Executing imperial orders, she saw such cases endlessly, making it hard even for her, a knight, to easily accept that knighthood was honorable.
She'd grown sick of such filth on past battlefields, even feeling disillusioned once.
Despite swearing to be a sword defending the Empire with their lives. Most turned their backs in fear at the first whiff of death, groveling endlessly when their lives hung by a thread.
"..."
'Ha—out of nowhere...'
Before the grim mood that always crept in during executions could fully take hold, her mind snapped alert.
To shove his face into her imagination like that—truly an unpredictable man.
Clap! Clap!
She slapped her cheeks with both hands to shake off the encroaching haze.
Entering the final underground room, she severed three necks in one stroke, then pulled documents from her pocket and marked a line.
'...Too few.'
Even after sweeping all five branches, the numbers were lower than Eclair had estimated.
—
On a hunch, she rushed to the two branches Roman was supposed to handle and arrived.
"Knight. We'll finish up here."
Cross-checking with the personnel and intel, there were no Cutlass remnants left behind.
The Empire's informants, who had lain low in Limno awaiting this day, had already begun cleaning up Cutlass traces.
Just a simple issue.
The headhunting firm and warehouse Roman hit on his way had headcounts similar to her five branches.
[Closed for Business]
It must've taken time to clear the unexpectedly vast warehouse... and with the leisure to return nameplates, heading to Cutler Due's mansion might not be too late.
Tap. Tap.
With feather-light movements, she stepped on a streetlamp and leaped to the rooftops, checking the map again before closing her pocket.
'Right under our noses.'
A few years back, Cutler Due had moved here through a broker, seeking a quiet spot—Limno's outskirts, far from commerce.
He bought up all surrounding homes and renovated an abandoned old mansion.
She bypassed the expansive garden showing a gardener's touch and entered the mansion through its shattered door.
Eclair spotted one lit room.
Boom!!
Something inside broke with a crash, so she minimized her presence and slipped in.
Two men's voices echoed.
'...Can't get closer.'
They might've already sensed her.
Inside, Roman gripped dangling iron chains.
And opposite him.
Cutler Due, sword drawn, was different from afar.
Though outwardly aged, his mana density and aura rivaled the current Floyd family head.
"..."
If Roman lost before she could spot an opening in his footwork? She'd follow up, judging Cutler Due based on the intel he'd extracted.
That was her role as the imperial sword, and Roman's as an adventurer staking his life.
'He says that, yet...'
In just a few days short of a week, she'd come to understand him more.
He resembled no man she knew. Indifferent to himself, yet astonishingly delicate with others.
Even that was but a mere fragment of knowledge about Roman, yet did friendship breed such biased sentiments?
She hoped it'd resolve without her intervening—not for bodily ease.
'Knight and adventurer' was their trade: bearing wounds like breath, treating death as an unwelcome guest outside the door.
The final traveler might arrive today or tomorrow.
She thought she'd accepted that truth upon taking the sword.
Yet for the first time, she lost her cool rationality, daring to hope.
That her sole friend return victorious, unscathed, calling her by that fake name without a smile.
Clangrrrr—
An iron chain with a dagger.
A weapon conjured from empty hands.
The old warrior, sustained by experience over vitality, showed no telltale expression even at the incomprehensible.
"The young one has some amusing tricks."
He gripped the dagger in his left, wrapping the chain around his right.
"Care to perform for this delighted old man?"
Whoosh!
The chain whipped like a lash.
She noted that brute strength from his throws.
Cutler dodged instinctively rather than block.
Kaboom—!
The steel-reinforced walls were shredded apart.
It evoked not a snake, but a massive monster's tail—chilling.
'What principle grants such power...?'
Not untouchable speed, nor aura cloaking the whole chain.
If pure muscle? What was the Creator Goddess thinking, making such a man?
"Tch-"
Think endlessly, but never halt movement.
Whips had return timing as weakness. He'd swing his sword to sever the seeking chain.
Clang!
'Won't cut?'
Even with pure aura, the links didn't fully sever.
So... strike the exact spot twice without error, or use true aura.
Better dodge than reveal hidden cards first.
"Hmm— not an ordinary chain."
"Heh... not just decrepit from age, eh?"
—
Heart pounding wildly, breath ragged? Straighten up, hide the stinking breath from the foe.
Even taking a surprise hit, feign no issue to erode their mind.
That's survival.
Their endless probes from hand aimed to harass the spirit, bait the foe to move first.
Splat-!
Blood trickled down his wrist; Cutler admitted his mistake.
Long weapons demand closing in for counters. That was textbook.
As the thrown chain recoiled, he lunged for the chest—but the dagger thrust as if anticipated.
With blatant mockery.
'Dagger outranges the chain. Versatile youth.'
Mad daggerwork beyond expectations.
The left-hand dagger wasn't to check approaches while dodging chain.
A bait to lure the foe in by mouth.
This battle-hardened feel. Absolutely... no knight, even beaten to death.
"Now I see."
"Hm?"
"You're an adventurer. Platinum rank, even."
Age slowed his realization.
Among rumors he'd gleaned on the Empire, one figure matched.
Bard tales barely unearthed were all negative, but.
This man was surely him.
"If you get it, offer your life for my selfish gain!"
Bwoom-!
The chain obeyed overwhelming strength, surging forth.
Acknowledging probe defeat, Cutler revealed a hidden card first.
Ziiing—!!
Metal screamed as Cutler's twin swords glowed green.
The airborne chain sliced limply, rolling on the floor.
"Whoa— aura unbecoming an old timer."
"Hahaha!! Well now. Living old brings such joys... five years? Indifferent when mastered, but using it in earnest? Thrilling."
His venomous face mismatched the innocent childlike laugh chasing a happy dream.
"Doesn't change a thing."
Thud.
The dagger shifted from left to right hand.
"Adventurer friend. Won't you show your hidden cards too? Hoarding them invites death."
"Fair— can't use 'em when needed if saved too much."
"Indeed. Young and quick on the uptake. Adventurers hate losses more than death, no?"
"Old man, don't yap like you know me. I don't hate deficits that much."
An answer unfit for 'Platinum,' the apex of profit-chasers. Cutler smirked bitterly at him.
"So the Empire used you to reach here?"
"Used... mutual exploitation. Even if 'that woman' led, you'd die regardless."
Cutler sensed her outside, blocking retreat, watching.
Without me, Eclair kills Cutler. That's justice.
"Heh... with such conviction, you could've trained fine knights from experience. Don't you see why the profit-obsessed Empire sent Eclair Dreitna alone? They still treat talent outside their fold stingily."
Reason Empire hired priceless Platinum: Cutlass deemed the Five Knights lacking.
No matter how he tried to shake me, the old man's lip service fell short.
The exploited me understands the Empire.
From their view, no need to overcommit pricey forces.
"Idiot... Lotuses grow in filthy mud. No need to seek mud to raise lotuses."
Ghostly handwork.
Dagger back to left; a longsword now in right.
Crackle-! Zzzap-
Facing crimson-black aura, Cutler's lips quivered in anticipation.