Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Princess (3)
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Krika was bored.
He had crossed over to this distant land in the northern kingdom of Seldam from the western continent of , all for a hefty contract fee paid by a noble.
It wasn't a bad deal, but there was nothing for him to do. The noble who hired him seemed to have more money than he knew what to do with, leaving a high-class talent like Krika to idle away.
At first, it was great. Who would turn down such an easy gig?
But the same routine day after day grew unbearably tedious. At least when his employer started buying up elf slaves, some tasks came his way...
'Gatekeeper duty, of all things.'
Gatekeeper or not, elves were strong. And since someone might target the elf slaves, deploying someone of his exceptional skill was the textbook move.
The problem was this musty basement. He was immune to the stench from the summons' foul odors, but the damp darkness alone grated on his nerves.
If the pay had been meager, he might have complained, but the excessive sum silenced any gripes.
Then, Emilia began barking outside.
Emilia was one of his summons—a hellhound bred down to a smaller size. An intruder, it seemed, but they'd be lucky to escape with their bones intact against her.
Krika closed his eyes, figuring he'd catch a nap.
Boom!!
Until that thunderous crash.
"What the—?!"
As far as he knew, Emilia couldn't make a sound like that.
Krika rushed outside and lost his mind at the sight before him.
"You bastards!!"
He summoned the crimson troll, Hia, and then the real trouble erupted.
"That's Emilia, huh. Pfft."
Emilia.
His precious baby, hand-raised from a pup with bottle-fed milk.
And now this killer mocked her name after brutally slaughtering her.
Emilia!! Daddy will avenge you!!
"Hia!! Kill them! Avenge your sister!!"
"Pfft! Sister? Between monsters. Heh. Guess that guy plays family games with his pets. Hilarious."
Hilarious?!
Krika's last thread of sanity snapped.
The Rito tribe of the western continent were summoners born with the innate gift to tame monsters, generation after generation.
He was one of the finest among them.
"Hia! Unleash maximum rage!"
"Grraaaahhh!!"
The crimson troll bellowed, its bloodshot eyes flashing.
Alex swallowed hard at the terrifying aura emanating from the troll. After the hellhound, now a troll—and not just any troll, but a Blood Troll, its skin tinged red from maximized regeneration factors.
Far more dangerous than the last one.
"L-Look, this one's really bad news. On a whole other level from before."
"Mister. That's Hia. Hehe, Hia. Looks so brutish, but what a cute name."
Alex didn't know what to say to Bena's nonchalant demeanor. A Blood Troll could rip even an ogre—a superior monster—in half.
Even a 5th-class battle mage would struggle to hunt one solo.
Yet Bena just smiled.
"At least this one doesn't stink too bad."
M maybe because it's far away?
She added that while twirling her hammer and striding toward the Blood Troll.
Alex had no chance to stop her.
"Hia! Rip that bitch's limbs off! Drag her alive before me!"
Krika bellowed the order to his summon in fury,
and
"Philion."
Philion
[I hate getting dirty too.]
Bena smiled at Philion's grumbling.
Philion's head split open, the blue gem inside radiating light.
"Grrraaaahhh!!"
The troll charged with earth-shaking thuds. Its massive double-headed axe bore ancient bloodstains caked on.
Bena muttered as the axe came crashing down on her.
"Master will praise me for doing a good deed, right?"
With that, she swung Philion.
Light erupted.
It engulfed the Blood Troll, sweeping through the underground corridor. Krika crossed his arms over his face against the rushing wave of radiance.
Alex stared blankly at the blinding glow.
The light burst straight ahead from the girl, enveloping her and everything behind.
For a split second, a shadow of fluttering skirts flickered on the wall, followed by a hammer plummeting at terrifying speed.
Splat—
That's the sound it made.
The light vanished as if it had never been, revealing a scene that left Alex aghast.
"Impossible..."
The double-headed axe lay in shattered ruins, the Blood Troll's arms pulped, its head half-exploded in gruesome fashion.
Bena landed lightly, pressing her skirt down to keep it in place.
Krika stared at her with a hollow expression.
"...Hia."
Emilia, and now Hia too.
Both felled in one strike by this pink-haired girl who looked so young.
The girl held her hammer demurely and gazed at Krika.
"All done. Where are the elves?"
"...My precious babies."
"Honestly, not that cute. How could anyone call those gross things cute? Oh, the names were cute. Emilia and Hia. Pfft."
"Laughing again!!"
Krika couldn't take it anymore.
He drew a dagger and slashed his left forearm long and deep. Blood spurted out.
"You've made a grave mistake!"
Philion warned.
The blood pooling on the floor coalesced into a single point.
Bena had no intention of waiting. The guy hadn't revealed the elves' location and was gearing up to attack instead.
"You brought this on yourself, so no hard feelings!"
She spun Philion around her body once, channeling centrifugal force as she swung at Krika.
Philion's head opened again. The blue gem blazed.
Black ooze boiled from Krika's left arm.
It enveloped the limb in an instant, sprouting a spiraling horn.
'Demonic Beasts' were creatures from the demon realm.
He had summoned the horn of 'Pelferon,' one known as particularly vicious even there.
"Black magic?!"
"Didn't want to use this, but you brought it on yourself!"
Krika was among the strongest summoners of the Rito tribe—and also one exiled for breaking taboos.
His taboo: taming demonic beasts.
"Dieeee!!"
Mission be damned; he couldn't contain his rage over losing his precious summons.
Even Bena, who overwhelmed a Blood Troll, faced grave danger from that demonic horn.
Grazed by it, savage demonic energy would corrupt instantly—with no cure.
But Bena didn't dodge.
She fixed her gaze on the protruding horn, thrusting Philion's handle forward.
In that fleeting moment, her hair darkened to a deeper crimson.
As the horn neared, she hooked the handle over it without hesitation, twisting her body sideways using the recoil.
The demonic horn sliced through empty air.
"Huh?"
Krika's eyes filled with panic.
Bena leaped upward, stepping on the horn. The blue gem still pulsed fiercely from Philion's head.
"I'm not the girl who panics over attacks like this anymore!"
Flash—!!
Light burst forth once more.
Alex watched Bena running beside him.
Just moments ago, she had taken down a summoner who even borrowed a demonic beast's power. With her own strength alone.
Shamefully, Alex had only watched. Not that he could have helped; she hadn't needed anyone's aid.
"Whereabouts now?"
"...Reaction from over there."
Luckily, Alex had something he could do.
Locating the elves. He lacked combat prowess but had mastered all sorts of utility spells.
Finding elves wasn't hard.
"Found them!"
Bena dashed toward them with glee, but clapped a hand over her mouth at the elves' state.
Alex's face fell in horror too.
"Horrible."
The elves hung suspended naked, arms bound upward. Their perfect bodies were covered in hideous wounds, mana restraints stuffed in eyes and mouths.
Legs chained immobile, they resembled taxidermied specimens.
They had endured unimaginable torment until just dozens of minutes ago.
Alex touched the locked door, and it unlocked itself.
"We're getting them out."
"Yes."
Bena nodded and approached.
The elves startled at the unfamiliar footsteps, then convulsed. Muffled whimpers and head-shaking suggested they thought more tormentors had arrived.
"It's okay. We're here to rescue you."
Even Bena's words yielded no change; lost to reason, her voice didn't reach them.
"Free them first, then figure it out."
Alex snapped his fingers, releasing the restraints.
"P-Please... spare me... I won't... won't do it again. Don't hit... don't stab... no more hitting. No water... hate water... please."
"Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Just kill me. Please, just kill me."
Eyes dead despite freedom, they uttered agonized pleas.
Alex fully unshackled their limbs, cushioning their fall with wind for a soft landing.
"N-No... won't do it. No escape... hate beasts."
"Gonna die. Gonna die. You'll kill me. Don't kill... don't..."
The tragic sight evoked memories of his worried comrades.
Alex clicked his tongue and sprinkled sleep powder.
What horrors had broken their minds so thoroughly?
Elves were hard to tame. Thus, humans possessing them first shattered their spirits.
Alex knew this intellectually, but seeing it firsthand robbed him of words.
"This world's rotten to the core."
"Huh?"
"...Nothing."
Alex levitated the elves with magic, pretending she hadn't heard.
"Let's go."
Mission complete.
Head out and contact the captain again.
"These fools."
Then space rippled like water, and several figures appeared.
Leading was a squat, pudgy man—the lord of the manor, Viscount Ivan.
"Daring to steal my property and run?"
He'd come down at the persistent noise and found a spectacle.
His face twisted in fury as he glared at Bena and Alex alternately. Then at Bena:
"You're decently pretty for a plump one, aren'tcha?"
Bena scowled at the out-of-left-field appraisal.
"Who're you calling plump, you chubby-cheeked freak?"
"Ch-Chubby-cheeks? You talking to me?"
"Who else, you chubby-cheeked bastard?"
Viscount Ivan flushed beet red at Bena's sharp barb.
"Fine. That's how slaves are caught. You two will suffer eternally."
His hefty-paid summoner lay dead already.
Fuming, he figured turning this cute pink-haired girl into a slave might offset the loss.
Viscount Ivan's lips curled creepily.
"Capture them."
At his gesture, three men stepped forward from behind.
Alex gauged their levels and bit his lip.
"...All three are Experts."
Bena furrowed her brow.
Even she found Experts burdensome now.
One-on-one, maybe, but she could already sense their strengths.
'The middle guy's insanely strong.'
Philion warned too.
The other two were strong, but the middle man was a cut above. Even among Experts, tiers existed.
"Bain. You stepping in too?"
"They touched the viscount's property. I must, to save face."
The man called Bain drew his sword.
The summoner Krika was decently strong, but his head was smashed—likely that girl's doing.
She looked young but packed skill. The mage beside her seemed high-ranked but not particularly threatening.
'Easy pickings.'
He licked his lips with a sleazy grin.
He kicked off the ground. Subdue them in a flash, then seek permission.
'I wanna play with an elf too.'
The world's most beautiful race.
Wounded or not, that had its own appeal.
Aura cloaked his sword in a blue trail.
Philion's cry.
The enemy's swift blade was too fast to track visually. Bena instinctively raised Philion, reading its path on pure reflex.
Clang!
A clear, resonant ring echoed.
But the shock jolting her hands was neither clear nor resonant.
Bain eyed the crimson-haired girl who blocked his sword, mildly surprised.
She had some skill, but blocking his strike? Unexpected.
'Won't happen twice.'
While Bena's arms rebounded upward, Bain redirected all recoil backward.
He slashed down again. No blocking this.
Bena sensed it in that instant.
"Tch. Still struggling against one little thing?"
Bena's eyes widened at the familiar voice.
"Not bad, all things considered."
Jamie grinned and raised a hand.
"Good work this time. Bena, well done."
A red line traced across Bain's chest.
Jamie sheathed his sword and chanted.
"Explosion."
⟨ Explosion ⟩
Kaboom!!
Explosive flames devoured Bain.
Not a trace left behind.