Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Chapter 22: Infection Lord
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“Hah, poison? Trying to kill yourself before getting defiled? That’s ridiculous. Who the hell would want a big, dumb bitch like you……”
Right then, the knights surrounding Meredes began staggering one by one.
“Ugh……”
“Guh……”
“C-Captain, no, Vice-Commander……”
“My head…… My head feels weird……”
Soon, most of the knights lost consciousness and collapsed in an instant. The vice-commander, who was the Knight Commander, and one other knight held out a bit longer before dropping to their knees and keeling over.
“Poison…… When the hell did you……”
Before they knew it, the surrounding air had been tinged with a faint hazy color.
If it had been broad daylight, they might not have fallen so easily.
But this was the pre-dawn darkness. Amid it all, Meredes—who had been crouched and holding her breath—felt the elixir’s energy coursing through her body and picked up the sword she had dropped.
“……”
She then began stabbing the fallen knights’ hearts one by one.
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch!
Once again, the armor pierced smoothly.
It wasn’t her senses that were off; the magic armor’s material seemed different somehow. The moment she plunged her blade into the last enemy’s heart and twisted it.
“……Meredes?”
She spotted a maid clutching a wooden box, rushing over from afar.
“It really was you. Thank goodness you’re safe.”
“Head Maid.”
Meredes bowed toward Lania. Lania let out a long sigh as she surveyed the dozens of corpses strewn about.
“Good thing we weren’t too late. You took the anti-poison elixir, right?”
“Yes. The moment I smelled it.”
The maids of Lunenbreath Manor were required to carry a few elixirs at all times, no matter what. Lania nodded as she set the empty box on the ground.
“Well done. I was worried since we’d never used it in real combat…… But it worked out great.”
What had been in the box was paralysis powder specially made for the Lunenbreath family.
Lania had hauled out dozens of boxes of the stuff stockpiled in the manor and, with the other maids, turned the southern forest area into a sort of biochemical zone.
“The enemies never saw that coming.”
Meredes recalled the twice-yearly regular training for the maids. Lania wiped the blood from Meredes’s face and spoke with a grave expression.
“Meredes. Enemies targeting His Highness are coming for the manor from all sides. And right when he’s away from the manor, of all times. Even after he made such a show of wandering around…… What idiots.”
“If enemies are coming from all sides, what about the other directions?”
“The Knight Order stepped up. Tolari, who arrived at the manor recently, is helping out too.”
At the mention of Tolari, Meredes’s eyebrow twitched. Lania picked up the box again and turned toward the manor.
“But we can’t just sit here. We need to head back and do what we have to. The manor has all sorts of elixirs stockpiled.”
“Of course, Head Maid. But……”
Meredes suddenly staggered and collapsed to the ground. Lania jumped in surprise and quickly checked on her.
“Meredes! Meredes! Pull yourself together! What happened! Didn’t you take the anti-poison elixir!”
“It’s not the paralysis powder…… Ugh……”
A sudden wave of pain hit her, leaving Meredes unable even to breathe.
“This…… This is the side effect of spirit possession……”
“Meredes! What are you talking about? Side effect? What’s spirit possession? Drink this quick!”
Lania poured several elixirs into her mouth, but it was no use. Meredes felt the possessing spirit leave her body, and at the same time, experienced the hallucination of tens of thousands of sharp stone shards raining down on her.
“Ah…… Ack…… Ugh……”
It was pain beyond endurance. Meredes rolled back her eyes and fainted, and Lania felt her heart sink as she cried out.
“Meredes! Pull yourself together! What the hell is going on! Meredes! Meredes!”
* * *
At the same time, on the eastern forest path, 200 mercenary knights began their advance in a relaxed mood.
“Heh heh, the pay’s already looking sweet. This is like getting paid to lie down and eat rice cakes.”
“Who says otherwise? The southern unit’s obviously handling all the hard stuff anyway. I hear they even have a Knight Commander among those old guys?”
“Exactly. Let’s not stick our necks out when we get to the manor—just clean up after. Speaking of, what’re you gonna do with the payout? It’s a nice chunk of change.”
“Fix my busted armor first, obviously. It looks like magic armor on the outside, but it’s basically just tin.”
One mercenary knight tapped his armor and laughed. In fact, of the 200 mercenary knights mobilized for this assassination, nearly half were wearing broken, non-functional magic armor just to fill numbers.
“Watch your mouth, will ya? If word gets out, we might not get jobs later.”
“What bullshit? Who else is around to hear us?”
“Just be careful like always. And you already forget the directive?”
“Directive? What directive?”
“Top brass sent down orders. Even when we get paid, don’t blow it all for a few months. Might get us in trouble.”
“Tch. It’s a lot for us, sure, but pocket change for nobles.”
“Anyway, it’s shady shit, so let’s be careful, all of you. Even if we’re not doing much this time…… Huh?”
Suddenly, a dazzling glow sliced through the darkness above the knights’ heads.
Shield of Light.
A shield of light created and launched by Priest Baris.
“Oh……”
In the darkness, everyone lost themselves for a moment, staring at the sparkling shield’s shape.
But it didn’t end with the shield.
Wooong!
With a slight delay, a spear enveloped in flash hurtled in at high speed.
And the moment it brushed against the hovering light shield above the knights’ heads and plunged down.
Flash!
A baptism of light poured forth.
The light embedded in the spear tip shattered like glass fragments, scattering sharp shards in all directions.
“Wha…… Aaaagh!”
“Ugh, aaagh!”
“Gyaaah! Wh-What the hell is this!”
The knights, pelted by shards, screamed and rolled on the ground. At the same time, two young knights waiting in the distance came charging in like arrows.
“Let’s go, Didi!”
“Yes, Kyle.”
It was Kyle and Didi.
The two held sharp skewers about forearm-length in reverse grip, instead of their usual long longswords.
Why?
Simple: it was more convenient.
“Uh, uhh……”
A knight collapsed at the front reached out, trying to say something, but his paralyzed body couldn’t convey it properly.
Of course, even if he had, nothing would change.
Stab!
Kyle jammed the skewer straight into the enemy’s helmet eyehole.
“Kraaak!”
With the erupting scream, he twisted the skewer tip hard once.
“Gurk……”
He yanked it out in one go and turned to the next target.
“N-No, stay back. Ugh……”
The knight who met his eyes thrashed desperately, crawling on the ground. But his paralyzed body couldn’t budge an inch from the spot.
And so, the one-sided slaughter began.
“F-Fucking hell…… Kraaak!”
“Keurk!”
“Sh-Shit! Can’t move…… Gahk!”
To them, the two looked like reapers.
One youth gritted his teeth with a pained face as he drove down the skewer, while the boy repeated the killing with an expressionless face.
The moment Kyle and Didi massacred about 50 in a flash.
“U, uwaaaah!”
The mercenaries in the rear unit—outside Holy Lance’s range, dazedly witnessing the slaughter—screamed and fled.
“What the hell are those guys! They’re insane!”
“R-Run! If you don’t wanna die like a dog!”
“Save me! This is hell!”
“Fuu……”
Kyle, finishing the grueling harvest, sighed as he watched the fleeing mercenaries. Didi, wiping blood from his face, spoke up beside him.
“They’re running when we’ve barely killed half. Just like you said, Kyle.”
“……Yeah.”
If the remaining enemies had charged desperately, things would’ve gotten messy.
But Kyle had predicted they’d flee. Not from any special foresight, but plain military common sense.
-Even well-disciplined regular troops lose combat effectiveness and retreat once over 20% casualties.
“……We learned that in class, but……”
Seeing it happen right in front of him proved it true. For hireling mercenaries? No need to say more.
Especially after watching two lunatics skewer people right before their eyes……
“Thanks to that, what a mess.”
Kyle looked at his blood-soaked self with dismay.
Not a single drop was his own blood, of course. By contrast, Didi standing next to him had just a splash on his face.
“How the hell do you…… Never mind. Doesn’t matter. This is done—let’s head back. Rejoin at the manor and go help Tolari.”
“Yes, Kyle. I’m worried about that too.”
In Didi’s eyes looking at him was a newfound respect. He seemed impressed that things had gone exactly as predicted.
“Like I said, they teach this stuff at the military academy.”
“……”
Didi nodded silently without reply.
But what truly impressed Didi was something else.
The way he unhesitatingly dirtied his own hands to achieve the plan.
That was most striking. Even though he hadn’t grown up at the bottom of society, watching all sorts of filth like Didi had.
“What’s with you? Come on, let’s go.”
“……It’s nothing.”
Didi shook his head and followed Kyle.
Not quite on Prince Claude’s level, but Kyle seemed trustworthy enough to follow orders.
* * *
Rattle! Rattle!
Ugh.
The carriage shakes bad because it’s so dark out. Ugh. Haven’t slept in hours? Getting motion sick from this little?
“Are you alright? Should I tell the coachman to slow down?”
Davi, sitting across from me, asked. I waved him off and sank deeper into the seat.
“I’m fine. Slow enough already—if it gets any slower, it’ll take a month to arrive.”
Right now, we’re in a carriage heading to the Northern White Knight Order’s garrison.
We left yesterday, but had to match pace with the baggage wagons following, and stopped midway for rest, so we’ve only just left the capital’s sphere.
Not really a month, exaggeration…… But arriving in the expected three days? Fat chance.
If I’d flown, we’d be there already.
“Now that you mention it, Your Highness can use flight magic, so being cooped up in this carriage must be frustrating.”
Huh?
Does this guy read minds? Or is my face too obvious?
“Sometimes you gotta stick to the ground. Long-distance flight magic guzzles mana—too taxing.”
“I see. Dawn’s breaking soon, so we can pick up speed safely then.”
Horses don’t need much sleep, so carriages can run from this pitch-black predawn.
Smart critters. Anyway, if we can’t go faster, might as well cover distance from dawn.
“More worried about the Knight Order HQ—no, the manor. Heard some shady news before we left.”
“Talisman Count gathering troops to assassinate me?”
“You knew, huh. I got some info from friends in the Knight Guild too. Details are fuzzy, but seems like it’s imminent.”
“That’s why he rampaged through the shopping district, scooping up booze. Flaunting that I left for the north with him. Not the booze for the White Knight Order, of course. Maybe he’s even tailing us right now?”
That’s why I’ve got life detection magic active even now. But Davi’s guess differed slightly from mine.
“Better if he was. I’m here, after all.”
“Yeah. You and me both.”
“That’s the problem.”
“Huh?”
“You and I both away from the manor at once. If the enemies are targeting it no matter what, they won’t back off just ‘cause the assassination target’s gone.”
“Even Talisman Count’s not that stupid…… But then what? Don’t trust the guys we left behind?”