Chapter 83
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Muspelheim
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"Those without hostility will never be attacked."
This had been confirmed through Hysteria from my previous life.
The guardian spirit protecting my father only reacted to those trying to harm him.
Just like how it showed no response at all even when I pulled out the sword currently embedded in his body.
Puck.
I pulled out the swords embedded in my father's body one by one. Each time, Terezsia chanted recovery spells to heal the wounds, and it seemed his vitality was returning bit by bit as the injuries mended.
'Of course.'
It was only a temporary effect.
His body had healed, but his vitality remained unchanged.
"It seems there's something wrong inside Lord Roys's body. I tried to restore his vitality, but my spells aren't working."
What on earth was making my father so frail? I couldn't figure it out before leaving the castle. If it had been a plague or a curse, Terezsia's holy spells would have washed it away, but no matter what incantation she tried, there was no reaction.
'In that case.'
It was highly likely to be someone's ability.
I couldn't solve it right now.
But that didn't mean there were no solutions.
For now, we should head back to the castle.
There had to be someone among the enemies who knew about this.
"Please move Father onto the ship."
Bess personally carried my father on his back and took him to the boat.
I couldn't share the method of approaching my father with the others, so I had no choice but to ask him, the one I trusted.
'No helping it.'
This body of mine was far too small to carry Father right now.
At the same time, he issued orders to the knights to prepare for departure.
If they came with us now, we could exit the tower faster than the enemy.
In other words, we could lie in wait for the enemy forces outside the tower ahead of time.
'Of course.'
I wasn't planning immediate revenge.
It was just to gauge the enemy's numbers and identify who was targeting us.
Whoever could take on my father had to be an extraordinary powerhouse.
Rushing in recklessly could lead to defeat.
So we needed to devise a careful strategy against them.
Bess was thinking the same thing.
"While I'm staying in the Legion, I'll gather information on them. Anyone strong enough to target the Family Head must be a renowned adventurer."
Just as we finished preparations and were about to set sail.
Rox captured the five enemies left on the island and brought them to us.
I'd said it was fine to kill them, but he deliberately kept them alive and dragged them before us.
"How about interrogating these guys? They might know something."
Not a bad idea.
Lowly soldiers left behind on the island probably didn't have useful intel, but it was better than nothing.
"P-Please spare me! If you just let me live, I'll tell you anything!"
One of the five lunged forward and prostrated himself.
His tomato-like physique with protruding belly fat and long, drooping brown beard evoked images of a northern dwarf.
I drew a dagger from my waist and approached him.
"Name."
"P-Pardon?"
"What's your name?"
"Ah, yes. Gordon."
"Right, Gordon. You said you'd tell me anything if I spared you?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll ask you a few things. Who was targeting the lord of that castle?"
Gordon hesitated.
Without pause, I pressed the blade against his side and said,
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"N-No! It's not that... I don't know that person's name..."
"You don't know the name of the one who gave you orders?"
"Th-That's right."
Well, they wouldn't reveal their name to lowly soldiers for a major operation.
It would be like leaving a trail in enemy territory.
"Then die."
"W-Wait!"
"Why?"
"I-I may not know the name. But I know how to meet them."
I rested my chin on my hand, intrigued.
"How?"
"They said they'd come pick us up."
"Pick you up?"
"Yes, half of us had to head back first because the ship we came on in the battle got smashed. The ones who went ahead agreed to come back for the rest."
"Besides you five here now, are there more left on this island?"
Gordon nodded vigorously.
"Yes! Total of ten."
"Ten, huh."
Not too few.
But they wouldn't return to this place just for lowly soldiers. Unless they were mad, who would risk danger to revisit a past battlefield?
"Do you think they'll come back?"
"...Probably. One of the guys with us is a Strange Family knight."
"A Strange Family knight?"
"Yes, I overheard him talking to the one who brought me—he's the Escort Captain."
Bess approached us, emanating aura, his face filled with rage.
"Why is that bastard with you?"
Gordon trembled, terrified.
"B-Because... he was with us... carrying out this operation?"
"The Strange Family's Escort Captain... carried out the operation with you?"
"Y-Yes, that's right!"
"If that's true, I'll spare you."
"Th-Thank you!"
"In exchange, guide us to where he is."
"Right now?"
Bess slapped the back of Gordon's head with his palm.
Smack!
"Don't make me say it twice. If you do, next time it won't be my hand—it'll be my sword."
We followed Gordon's guidance to the opposite side of the island.
There, just as he said, were five knights from the Strange Family and four who looked like porters.
'Are they really the ones who betrayed Father?'
They were comrades who'd fought alongside Father on battlefields since childhood, or so I'd heard.
'What on earth for?'
Abandoning the Strange Family, where they could have honor and wealth, to join hands with outsiders?
Bess couldn't hold back and drew his sword. Gordon edged closer to me, glancing nervously.
I whispered softly, eyeing the Escort Captain in black armor gathered on the beach.
"We'll capture the Escort Captain alive."
Bess replied in a stance ready to charge at any moment.
"Can you manage?"
"If you handle the Escort Captain's men, it won't be hard."
"Young Master, don't underestimate the Escort Captain. Most of them are 6-star knights, and their battlefield experience can't be ignored."
I knew that.
I'd faced them before in the past. That's why I was confident this time. I was sure they were weaker than me.
"Trust me."
With that, I kicked off the ground first.
Whoosh!
As I burst forward, exploding my aura, the Escort Captain—who'd been watching the distant sea—drew his sword in startled panic.
Shing.
"Wh-What?!"
One knight recognized my face and shouted.
"It's Young Master Berddin!"
The moment he cried out.
Puck!
Bess's sword pierced the back of the knight who'd called my name, bursting out through his chest.
"Guhk..."
A blow powerful enough to tear through armor. The Escort Captain's gaze locked onto Bess's rage-filled strike.
"Bess?!"
The Escort Captain made a mistake.
This was a battlefield, and his opponent was me. In that split second, I vanished from his sight.
By the time he noticed my presence, the fight was already over.
Swish.
The tip of my sword halted right before the Escort Captain's throat.
"If you reveal any aura or make a move, I'll sever your head."
There was no resistance.
The Strange Family knights raised their hands and surrendered. The porters with them were too terrified to even lift their heads.
'They surrendered so easily, it's almost like they weren't really traitors.'
I took them all aboard the ship and set sail, then said to Bess,
"Bess, I'll handle their interrogation personally. I have an expert in my party."
Terezsia smiled shyly and picked up her whip.
Crack!
"If you don't talk quickly... it might hurt a little?"
Roys was never weak.
Even if he'd fallen ill, he'd massacred most of the enemy and inflicted fatal wounds on their leader-class adventurers.
"Damn it..."
Matteo Rich, the black-haired old man who'd faced Roys head-on, trembled at the sight of his severed left arm.
He hadn't been careless at all.
He was a proven powerhouse who led the five great towers after Monestier vanished.
'But.'
His opponent was too strong.
Bonnie and Freddy, who'd followed behind him to attack Roys, were also badly injured and immobile.
"This is insane! All my puppets are smashed!"
"You lost your puppets? I feel like my whole body got smashed! My limbs won't move at all!"
Matteo Rich gave them a wry smile. These guys had been brimming with confidence before the fight, but after just half a day, they were screaming about dying. How could he not laugh?
Slither.
Joanna Ark wrapped Matteo Rich's severed arm in cloth and said,
"I can't reattach parts separated from the body with my power. Please endure until we exit the tower."
"Thank you for your care. I won't forget this favor. Without you, Lady Joanna, we all would have died."
"He said that though they seek death, they shall not die, and though they desire it, death shall flee from them."
"Death fled from us?"
"Yes, you all would have survived even without me."
Matteo Rich scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I see. Still... having you by my side, Lady Joanna Ark, is reassuring."
"I'm glad to hear that. I was worried I'd hold you back, since all I know are a few recovery spells."
"No way!"
Bonnie approached with a tearful face, holding two broken puppets.
"Lady Joanna, is there no way to fix my puppets? Restoring them with my mana would take at least a month!"
Not to be outdone, Freddy unwound his bandages to show his elbow and knee.
"My healing's done, but why does it still hurt? The pain won't go away, like my bones are broken!"
Joanna Ark looked at them alternately and replied softly.
"Puppets aren't living beings, so recovery spells don't work on them. As for why you still hurt, Sir Freddy—undead don't respond well to healing magic, so the pain lingers."
Matteo Rich swung a brush with his remaining arm and yelled,
"Once we get down from this tower, we're going straight for Berddin's head. Enough stupid talk—both of you, back to your spots and rest."