9. New Operation
9. New Operation
A long, dark escape route.
After exiting that place and traveling for quite a while, we arrived at a shabby slum.
"Alright, if we've made it this far, they won't be able to pursue us any further."
"So, are we heading to the headquarters now?"
"We've shaken off the pursuit, so we should."
At those words, the Revolutionary Army members let out sighs of relief.
I looked at the Revolutionary Army members. Everyone looked clearly exhausted.
'After the battle, we've been running endlessly....'
To shake off the pursuit, we wandered all over the place, shoved our bodies into mud, and did all sorts of crazy things. It's no wonder the mention of returning to headquarters sounds so sweet.
However, someone spoke in a sharp voice.
"Wait, don't we still have a problem to solve?"
"Sylvia, what do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean? You're going to take that thing to our headquarters? He was locked up in the Black Prison, and we don't even know who he is!"
At that, I turned my head to look at the Revolutionary Army member called Sylvia.
Silver hair and a beautiful appearance. Even after rolling around in the dirt, her beauty couldn't be hidden as she glared at me with sharp eyes.
Hector stepped in at that gaze.
"Hahaha. Sylvia, don't be like that. If you're really that worried, then I'll vouch for the identity of that thing you mentioned—Haeil Cartis."
As he said that, he slapped my back, and I almost screamed from the pain.
"Captain, you're always like that. He's from the Imperial Royal Guard, for heaven's sake. We can't bring a potential risk all the way to headquarters when the Royal Guard is pursuing us."
Sylvia said with a firm expression, as if she wouldn't back down. Just then, Charles stepped forward.
"No, he's not a risk."
Charles continued, as if protecting me.
"You might not have seen it, but the Haeil Cartis you're talking about saved me. He pushed me away just before the sword struck. He could have died himself, yet he did it anyway. Do you need any more proof than that?"
I felt a guilty pang in my heart at those words.
'I just pushed him to save my own skin....'
Sylvia looked at me as if to confirm, but I just shrugged. If they want to misunderstand, there's no need for me to correct them.
"Charles is right. I saw him push Charles away after seeing the Royal Guard Captain's sword coming. Hahaha, he's a real piece of work. A real piece of work."
Hector slapped my back repeatedly as if to praise me. It was meant as a compliment, but for me, it felt like my back was about to burst.
Sylvia frowned at Hector and Charles's words, then opened her mouth again.
"Fine, I get it. Let's assume there's no chance he's a spy. Even so, I'm against bringing him to headquarters. No, even if he were a member of the Revolutionary Army, headquarters isn't a place just anyone can enter!"
Sylvia raised her voice.
"Isn't that right? Do you know how much we suffered to get to the Revolutionary Army's headquarters! And that guy, ha, the infamous good-for-nothing noble of the Empire, Haeil Cartis, is coming to headquarters?!"
"Sylvia, the principle of the Revolutionary Army is..."
"Yes, equality regardless of status! I know that well. But that's no reason to bring a noble lord into headquarters. We aren't well-off enough to bring in an incompetent guy who can't even pull his own weight..."
As Sylvia spoke, her tone grew higher, perhaps because she was getting even angrier at her own frustration. Just as those around her were wondering if they should stop her, I stepped forward.
"Would it be enough if I proved that I can pull my own weight?"
I looked at Sylvia.
Sylvia, Revolutionary Army staff officer.
Silver hair, beautiful appearance, excellent tactical eye, the brains of the Revolutionary Army.
I know her well. I've seen her countless times in the game.
Sylvia is a commoner. A very exceptional commoner at that. A noble-hater whose abilities were thoroughly trampled by nobles, and who only blossomed after joining the Revolutionary Army.
From Sylvia's perspective, I must look like something beyond a nepotism hire. It's understandable that she'd be bitter.
'But that's that.'
No matter what her story is, if she comes at me like this, I have to act too. Above all, I need to go back to Princess Bella's side. To protect her, I have to be as close as possible. I can't get held up in a place like this.
I asked Charles for his sword and took it.
"I think beating you would prove it, what do you say?"
At that attitude, Sylvia drew her sword, looking dumbfounded.
"Ha... You started this, so I won't go easy on you."
I closed my eyes for a moment. Then, I recalled the swordsmanship Sylvia had displayed in the past. Standard, waste-free swordsmanship. Honest and upright, but in other words, it could also be called predictable.
When I opened my eyes, yellow trajectories appeared clearly in my vision. Straight trajectories filled my sight.
"Come at me."
Sylvia's figure shot forward. As her silver hair fluttered, a fierce sword strike rushed toward my neck.
'Fast.'
Even though I could clearly see the trajectory, this body was struggling to react. Instead of trying to dodge or counterattack recklessly, I placed my sword at the exact spot where the trajectory ended.
Kkaang-!
With a sharp screech of friction, a stinging shock spread through both my arms. It felt like my wrists were going to break, but I barely held on. Sylvia's eyes widened. Thinking it was a fluke, she swung her sword repeatedly.
Clang! Chaaeng-! Kkaang!
Deadly strikes aiming for my top, bottom, left, and right. But I stood in place, moving my sword only half a span at a time, deflecting all of her attacks.
Finally, at the moment Sylvia's breathing became ragged and her movements grew larger.
A yellow trajectory pointed to her exposed flank. Using the recoil of my wrist, I strongly deflected her sword and stopped my blade right in front of her throat.
"......."
Sylvia's movements stopped dead in front of the cold blade.
"I think I won."
I forced strength into my trembling legs and spoke as if I were calm.
Instead of anger or resentment, Sylvia looked back and forth between her sword and my face, as if she couldn't believe it.
"...Ha, yeah, I see why Charles and the Captain were protecting you so much. I lost. I admit it."
An attitude of coolly admitting her own defeat. It was an anticlimactic ending for me, as I had braced myself for a conflict.
"Hahaha. Yes! I like that attitude of admitting it! See! What did I tell you! I told you this guy was a piece of work!"
Hector laughed loudly, patting Sylvia's back and then mine.
"Alright. Haeil, now that you're with us, I'll tell you about the next operation we need to prepare for immediately."
"Wait, that..."
Before Sylvia could say anything, Hector's mouth opened first.
Hector said in a heavy, sunken voice.
"We are going to assassinate Princess Bella."
"......What?"
A dumbfounded voice popped out of my mouth.
Hector had a determined expression as if he were saying something monumental, but my mind went completely blank.
Assassinate Princess Bella?
No, if the Princess dies, the Demon God Cult guys will go wild! The Demon God will be resurrected and this whole world will be destroyed!
Faced with a new crisis of destruction right before my eyes, I could only stare blankly at Hector's bearded face.
"Your Highness, the pursuit team lost the trail..."
Bang! At those words, Princess Bella slammed her desk.
"Are you telling me that right now? You lost them?"
At that, the knight just hung his head low.
"Ha...."
The Princess grabbed her forehead and sank deep into her chair.
What on earth was the problem?
Poor management of the Black Prison? The unexpected appearance of the Revolutionary Army?
No, that's not it.
The whole problem is one thing.
"Haeil Cartis...."
The Princess herself knows. That she is not normal.
It was Hector who led the escape from the Black Prison. And the Revolutionary Army.
I don't know how long they prepared for this, but we were properly played. We even lost the leader of the Revolutionary Army. A truly painful loss.
However, neither the Revolutionary Army nor their leader Hector could enter Princess Bella's mind.
The only thing she could think of was one person: Haeil Cartis.
Princess Bella gripped the pendant hanging around her neck.
Her mother's pendant. The pendant she had split in half for her.
Princess Bella still remembers. Crying when her mother passed away.
And putting her pendant together with her mother's into the coffin.
She remembers clearly. Because she had put the pendant into her mother's coffin.
Ominous thoughts swirled in Princess Bella's head. Just in case, she had sent people to check where her mother was laid to rest, but they couldn't find anything unusual.
'How on earth did he....'
She checked it over and over, but it was the same as the pendant in her memory. It was the exact same object, without even the slightest discrepancy.
Princess Bella was confused.
Everything is a question. This pendant, and this thing filling her mind.
"Ugh...."
Princess Bella grabbed her head.
It's happening again.
Her head is starting to hurt again.
Whenever her head hurts like this, unknown memories that she doesn't know about clearly surface.
Things she experienced but didn't experience.
Her own appearance looking so happy, eyes in love, and the feeling of wanting something for the first time.
Those things were so awkward. The fact that she could be like that was so awkward.
However, she could endure that much. She could just brush it off as having a pleasant dream.
There is one thing that is truly hard to endure.
"Haeil Cartis...."
At the center of those dreams was always Haeil Cartis.
Princess Bella gripped the pendant tightly. As if she would never let it go again.
"If I see you next time, I will never let you go."