Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Brass Knight 4
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“Boss, you can’t fight that guy.”
“What?”
Donaer looked puzzled at the words from his subordinate, who had once worked with him as a spy for Count Lantaric. The man, who had been with him for so long, immediately offered advice upon seeing Donaer about to test Azadin’s skills.
“If the rumors are true, Margrave Salasuma transformed into a house-sized naga and died fighting something. And now this herald from that clan shows up wanting to buy the naga woman. You get what that means, right?”
“That bastard’s the one who killed Count Salasuma?”
“Probably. If so, he’s an incredible powerhouse. They say the entire Herald Clan are wizards with unfathomable magic, and they’ve used that power to kill kings, queens, generals, and ministers… We’re not even nobles—there’s no way we can take him.”
As he spoke, the bandits Azadin had dragged in nodded vigorously, shooting warning glances to prevent anyone from starting a fight.
“I’ve heard the Herald Clan are impressive, but… this is something else. Got it.”
Donaer chose negotiation over clashing with the Herald Clan.
“Wise choice. How about ten silver coins for her ransom?”
“That’s not enough. He seems to have killed a bunch of our guys, so I need blood money too if I’m gonna save face, right?”
“What?!”
Midiam bristled at the words, but Azadin held her back with a smile.
“So, what’s your blood price?”
“……!”
The bandits froze for a moment.
‘What the hell? H-how do we even answer that?’
Donaer felt a chill down his spine at Azadin’s relaxed demeanor.
‘Price it too low, and I lose face with the men. Too high, and he might just charge in without negotiating. Damn it, am I really getting cold feet because of these punks?’
Just then, smoke rose up behind them.
“Huh?!”
“W-what is that?”
“That’s the direction of our hideout, isn’t it?”
The bandits began murmuring. Fire had broken out in their lair.
‘A stranger shows up out of nowhere, and suddenly the hideout’s on fire? Coincidence?’
It was pure coincidence, but the bandits didn’t see it that way.
Suddenly, an arrow flew from the forest. Azadin reached to catch it but sensed the immense power behind it and dodged instead.
Normally, when Azadin caught and returned arrows, it was against shortbows or light hunting bows. But the one hidden among these bandits wielded a proper ashwood longbow.
This was a weapon only for highly trained archers—in a mercenary group like the Zell Sword Company, they’d be called a “Doppelgänger,” earning double or more the pay of regular soldiers as master bowmen.
‘As expected, Count Lantaric’s warriors are mixed in with this bandit crew.’
Spotting the expert archer among them, Azadin instantly knew these were Lantaric’s men.
Not all of them, but the ones organizing and leading the bandits were Count Lantaric’s operatives. The count, who had targeted Salasuma from the start, must have sent them to sow chaos in Salasuma’s lands. That was the only explanation.
“Damn it! Get him! Attack!”
Donaer sensed things going south as Azadin effortlessly evaded the preemptive strike, but having struck first, negotiation was off the table.
“I wanted to avoid conflict as much as possible… but no choice now.”
Azadin drew his sword, regretting the turn of events.
“You bastard!”
The bandits closed in, but Azadin unleashed Twilight and slipped right into Donaer’s guard in an instant.
“Gasp?!”
Donaer swung back in surprise, but Azadin casually seized his wrist and twisted.
-Crack!
The elbow popped right out.
“Argh!”
That wasn’t the end. Azadin grabbed the helmet, spun Donaer’s body around, and shoved him toward the incoming arrow.
-Thunk!
The ashwood longbow’s arrow pierced Donaer’s armor and buried deep in his thigh. As Donaer groaned in agony, the attacking archer hesitated for a split second. Azadin yanked the dagger from Donaer’s belt and hurled it at the bowman.
“Grah!”
The dagger severed the archer’s fingers.
“Ugh, aaagh! My hand! My hand!”
The archer despaired at his mangled fingers. A lifetime pulling the bow, and now these hands could never loose an arrow again.
‘This guy… he’s ruthless when it comes to crippling foes.’
Midiam clicked her tongue watching Azadin deliberately inflict permanent damage. With the master archer neutralized, the bandits were utterly terrified.
“That’s why I said let’s not…”
The bandits who had already tasted Azadin’s prowess cursed the hotheads among them. Meanwhile, Azadin leisurely dragged Donaer along, securing an escape route.
“Chase us, and he dies.”
Azadin shoved Donaer toward the bandits. As they scrambled to support him, Azadin, Midiam, and Ismail swiftly vanished from the scene.
The bandits outnumbered them by far, but Azadin’s group had displayed such astonishing combat prowess and control that no one dared pursue.
*********
“Arrrgh! You filthy bastards!”
Donaer writhed on the ground.
“Heralds! Those sons of—argh!”
He clutched the wound from his comrade’s ashwood longbow, groaning in pain. The arrowhead was buried deep; every movement ground the shaft into the flesh.
They’d hastily snapped the shaft short, but pulling it out properly would require tongs, not human hands. The real problem was the bandits’ attitudes.
“…….”
Donaer, the Bandit King, was a former sergeant under Count Lantaric—far superior in skill, wielding brutal swordsmanship and infamous for feeding slain humans to his men to instill terror.
In short, he ruled the others through fear.
But that fear was now his weakness. He dominated not through loyalty but brute force and terror, hoarding all the spoils, so resentment had built up among his underlings.
It might not have been there before, but now with Donaer wounded and his most dangerous enforcer—the ashwood longbowman—crippled, even dormant grudges surfaced.
Why not strike now? The bandits’ eyes darted slyly.
“You rats, eyes down! I see what you’re thinking! Who gave you scum a hideout, hooked you up with slave traders to make you look human instead of roadside thugs? Forgotten already?”
Donaer snarled at his men, who eyed him like starving jackals scenting meat.
But the bandits no longer feared him. His threats only proved he’d lost his fighting edge.
‘He used to threaten to kill us…’
‘Now it’s “you can’t trade slaves without me”?’
‘Guess he can’t fight anymore.’
They were savage beasts staring at bleeding prey.
Logically, Donaer was right. He’d organized them into a proper bandit crew, opened fences for loot and slaves, boosting profits per raid. Without him, they’d scatter into mere highway robbers.
But just as Donaer had savored freedom after deserting Lantaric’s army, they craved liberty over his rigid rule—doing as they pleased.
-Shing.
One drew a sword, and they all followed suit.
“You bastards…”
Donaer and his Lantaric loyalists drew weapons too. That’s when it happened.
“Hmm…”
A man in golden armor had appeared behind them unnoticed.
“Huh?”
“Ah, am I interrupting? Carry on. Ignore me.”
The golden-armored man smiled, caressing his helmet.
“I was just in need of human flesh and blood. Fight it out, spill some, and I’ll use it.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Just a passing holy knight. Seen a young man traveling with a boy and girl around here? From the Herald Clan.”
“…….”
“Oh? Seems you have a lead. Everyone…”
“Hey, we’re already pissed, and now this?”
“A holy knight?”
Donaer’s bandits had tangled with the King’s Church holy knights before.
Ordinary bandits, no matter the numbers, couldn’t touch the ironclad monsters. But Donaer’s crew wasn’t ordinary—they’d taken one down using superior group tactics.
So they saw the golden-armored holy knight not as a threat, but loot.
“Oh?”
The golden holy knight seemed surprised at the bandits openly baring hostility.
“You should back off.”
“Keek. Back off? For real?”
“Why should we listen?”
“Because…”
A sudden boom shook the air. A massive shadow plummeted from the sky, crushing a bandit who’d been eyeing the knight.
A humanoid torso atop elongated limbs—a grotesque distortion—stomped the bandit and tore into his flesh alive. The man thrashed like one mauled by a bear, to no avail.
“U-uaaaagh!”
Biting into the writhing man, it reared its head ferociously. The gutted bandit lifted upward, blood spraying under gravity.
A beast devouring a living human. The gruesome spectacle hammered their retinas and nerves.
They wanted to look away, but fear of becoming the next victim froze them—they watched a man get eaten.
“That’s why.”
The golden-armored holy knight smiled as he spoke.
*********
“Sir Ject, if you go on ahead like that…”
A pair of male and female holy knights emerged from the brush, halting. They were Zevec, once Ject’s squire knight, and Maya, Salasuma’s former chief officer.
“N-no, why…”
Maya recoiled at Sir Gazrek’s horrific transformation before her eyes. It had started as a mere animated corpse, but now it had mutated into an indescribable monstrosity.
“Sir Ject, is this really okay? My fath—no, Sir Gazrek is growing bigger.”
“This is all due to the curse from his wrongful death. The ones who murdered and secretly buried your father denied him proper rites, so black magic’s curse keeps warping him.”
“…….”
As a holy knight herself, Maya vaguely knew why this happened.
Not all wraith knights mutated like this. To sustain and evolve as undead, they needed human blood and flesh.
Arbiter Ject had kept Sir Gazrek as a wraith knight by feeding him people—out of her sight, or right before her eyes.
Is this right for a holy knight?
She harbored the doubt but couldn’t voice it to Sir Ject. Then, a bandit who’d overheard lifted his head.
“W-wait. Ject… You mean Arbiter Ject?”
The injured man in fine armor, clearly the bandits’ leader, cut into the holy knights’ conversation.