Chapter 4:
A City in Chaos
A MOUNTAIN RANGE running from northeast to southwest served as the empire’s natural western border, separating the Great Revlon Empire from the Aspania Kingdom. There was only a single break in that border: a relatively narrow river that could be crossed on horseback.
This river, which flowed through the mountains, was the only point connecting the empire and the kingdom. Therefore, the empire could stop the kingdom from advancing into its territory by guarding that one point. It had built a fort near the river on its side and stationed troops there. Rontestatt, a border town, was responsible for supplying the fort.
Only a small contingent of soldiers, maybe about a single battalion’s worth, were stationed at the fort during peacetime operations. The majority of the rest were based back in the city of Rontestatt, from where they would be dispatched to the fort in the event of an emergency. The fact that the fort was currently packed with a brigade of 2,500 soldiers spoke to the situation they now found themselves in.
Aspanian soldiers were also gathering on the opposite bank across the river, numbering around 10,000. The massive force had only suddenly appeared a few days prior and set up camp opposite the fort, glaring hatefully at the empire.
The soldiers crammed into the fort belonged to one of the four armies operated by the empire, known as the western imperial army. Though its full strength was nearly double that of the soldiers waiting across the river under the banner of the Aspania Kingdom, not all of the troops were waiting near Rontestatt.
In peacetime, the imperial army was sent out on company and battalion-scale missions to wipe out monsters and bandits, settle disputes for local nobility, and more. They had multiple bases beyond Rontestatt. Obviously, not all of these soldiers could be immediately mustered in event of an emergency. The territory covered by the western imperial army was huge, and it had seemed a waste to leave a great many soldiers stationed here during peacetime, in the past, all while the Aspania Kingdom did nothing.
What was more, the fort by the river wasn’t all that big to begin with. With the number of brigades now packed in there, it was nearing its maximum capacity. To bring in more troops, they would need to start building camps on the river plains like the Aspanian soldiers had, and the limited number of soldiers available to them at present meant those Aspanian soldiers would almost certainly cross the river and defeat them the moment they began construction.
This meant they had to gather a large number of soldiers in the rear and send them to the border all at once. Until then, they had no choice but to rely on the power of the fort to keep the Aspania Kingdom from crossing the border.
The situation had created an atmosphere of great tension within the fort. Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, the soldiers of the Aspania Kingdom stayed at their camps, watching the fort as they prepared for war…or so they thought.
Although they kept a close eye on the movements within the imperial fort, the atmosphere in their camps was relatively relaxed, with most soldiers busy training, gambling, or just cleaning their weapons. The mood was light compared to that in the fort, almost like they were on a break between operations.
The sight was enough to cause one of the Aspanian knights to seethe—and he wasn’t the only one. There were many who were dissatisfied with the current situation, especially in light of the effort it had taken to gather so many soldiers to face off against the imperial fort. After all, the feud between the Aspania Kingdom and the Great Revlon Empire was long and storied.
While the Aspania Kingdom was now located at the western end of the empire, that was not always the case. Its former royal capital was once located on the same spot where Vittelvarlay, the imperial capital of the Great Revlon Empire, now stood. Aspania had lost the capital when the Revlon Empire invaded from the north and drove them out west.
When the Revlon Empire split into the dual east and west empires at the end of a long struggle for the throne, the Aspania Kingdom had tried to regain the territory lost to the empire. But they’d been just barely treading water at the time, unable to spare the manpower necessary to recapture their lands. The Aspanian people, driven from their fertile lands to eke out a meagre existence, told their descendants of the awful treatment they suffered at the hands of the empire, creating an entire generation that wanted nothing more than to take back what they had lost.
It was easy to understand why many soldiers might feel frustrated to be sitting here doing nothing, so close on the cusp of overthrowing the empire it. Others, however, had the patience to maintain their cool and bide their time. The difference lay in whether they knew what this invasion really meant, or whether they didn’t.
A knight cleaning his sword muttered aloud, “When are we going to make a move to take the empire? It’s been three days since we arrived.”
Another knight who overheard him smiled broadly. “What? You don’t know what’s going on?”
The knight who spoke initially was flustered by the response, but dared not reveal it.
Most knights were also aristocrats, which meant their royal standing could be deduced just by their appearance and their armor. When invited to join combat, aristocrats were given information about the details and circumstances of the battle to come. Most foot soldiers, on the other hand, were never briefed about things like the political motives or objectives of the war.
To be ignorant of such details at the onset of battle implied that you were an ill-informed aristocrat. However, while the same broad term might be used to describe them all, not every aristocrat enjoyed the same status. Someone from an aristocratic family that held political power, for example, would have information leaked to them by family members. A low-titled third or fourth son, however, would likely be told nothing.
In other words, knowing the real reasons for this war meant that you were a high-ranking aristocrat or closely connected to someone well-informed. If you didn’t watch your mouth, you could cause trouble for yourself the future.
“Unfortunately, my family isn’t blessed with such information,” the man replied humbly as he turned to the other knight.
The other man glanced around before lowering his voice. “This isn’t a full-fledged invasion. We’re here to put pressure on the empire from the west.”
Hearing this, the man cocked his head to the side. “But to what end?”
Although proud to be a member of the Aspania Kingdom’s elite army, he knew there was a significant difference between the power their kingdom could bring to bear and that of the Great Revlon Empire. Even a blitzkrieg attack on the imperial capital would be unlikely to succeed, to say nothing about gathering all of their troops in one place to draw the attention of the imperial army. There was simply no way they could win that way.
The man’s question must have been clear on his face, as the other, better-informed of the two lowered his voice even further.
“The Great Revlon Empire is being invaded by the other empire. Our kingdom is putting pressure on it from the west, forcing the Great Revlon Empire to deal with threats on both sides.”
After offering up his explanation, the man let out a laugh, revealing that he had also heard the story from somewhere else. The knight cleaning his sword let out a heavy breath at the realization that his conversation partner was of a similar social standing to himself.
“Hmm, that would make sense. But the idea of helping the eastern empire leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, even if it’s in the name of weakening the Great Revlon Empire.”
The other man nodded in agreement.
To Aspania Kingdom, both the eastern and western empires were enemies who’d taken territory from them. Even if their actions weakened the Great Revlon Empire, which they shared a border with, the thought of helping the Holy East Revlon Empire was unpleasant. But if the Great Revlon Empire used the full force of its army to crush the Holy East Revlon Empire, they might restore the former Revlon Empire to its former glory and become even stronger than before. If that happened, the odds of recapturing their former lands would become even more remote.
Thus far, the Aspania Kingdom had yet to publicly express any hostility toward the Great Revlon Empire. It would do them no good to recklessly provoke an opponent that could easily wipe them out if they wanted to. Instead, they had focused on strengthening their own forces. As a result, the empire was no longer particularly wary of the kingdom.
The western imperial army, which was charged with protecting the empire’s western border with the Aspania Kingdom, was traditionally considered the weakest of the four imperial armies. While the Aspania Kingdom hadn’t shown itself to be a threat to the empire, they were able to draw sufficient attention now by merely bringing their forces to bear along Great Revlon Empire’s western border, even as it was being invaded by the east empire.
If they focused their attention on the Aspania Kingdom, it would delay their response to the invasion from the east. This, in turn, would gradually eat away at the empire’s strength.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Aspania.
As the men spoke, a sliver of smoke rose up in the eastern sky and the camp suddenly began to rustle to life. The two knights stopped to look up as a messenger ran through the camp, heading straight toward a large tent located at the back of the camp.
The knights standing guard at the tent’s entrance held out their weapons and ordered the messenger to stop. However, the moment they caught sight of the emblem on his arm, they saluted and opened the entrance for him.
The messenger saluted back and shouted into the tent to make his presence known.
“Excuse me!”
The messenger entered to find a long, narrow table sitting across from the entrance, at which were seated many nobles dressed in military guard. A young, well-dressed man occupied the furthest seat. His dark gray hair was cut short and neatly combed, and his sharp blue eyes stood in contrast to his fair skin. He wore the same military uniform as the others, though his chest was marked with the crest of Aspania’s royal family.
His name was Quintil—Crown Prince Quintil Aspania Gotis of the Aspania Kingdom.
A muscular man dressed in a military uniform, standing at the crown prince’s side, shot a harsh gaze at the messenger as he entered the tent.
“State your business.”
The messenger offered back a salute and explained. “We spotted a smoke signal in the direction of Rontestatt! The smoke is white!”
The message caused a commotion throughout the tent. The crown prince, however, merely smirked.
“Sire…”
Quintil stood up at the behest of the muscular man at his side.
“The time has come. It’s time for us, after years of suffering at the hands of the empire, to finally take our first step. For the first time in history, all eyes in the western imperial army will be fixed on us. Advance on the fort!”
At Quintil’s command, everyone in the tent stood up and saluted in unison. They then hurried out of the tent and gave the order to advance, which was met with loud cheers.
***
“Just what’s going on here?”
“Kyiii…”
I watched tongues of fire lick across the city of Rontestatt. Ponta gazed anxiously as people screamed and cursed throughout the city.
The fact that various parts of the city were being set ablaze at the same time as the guild was attacked was testament to the fact that this was all preplanned. I’d wondered if the city was under attack, as one of the guild officials had previously told me things were getting tense—but apparently, it wasn’t that simple.
I heard a loud scream near the street and saw a crowd of people running away from something. Three goblins chased them in hot pursuit.
I’d seen these monsters before. They stood about a meter tall, their spines bent forward, and could be identified by their dull green skin and unusually swollen stomachs. Their large, pointed ears were reminiscent of the elves, but everything else, from their bulbous eyes and the wide mouths that looked like ear-to-ear gashes in their faces, gave them an altogether hideous appearance. The goblins were armed with stone axes and clubs that dripped with reddish-black goop.
Perhaps they were the ones who were attacking the inhabitants of the city?
Watching them chase after and swing their weapons at the fleeing residents was all the evidence I needed. Without a moment’s hesitation, I drew the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg from my back and swung it.
“Wyvern Slash!!”
An invisible blade shot forth from the tip of my sword and found its mark, cleaving the three goblins right in half and dropping them on the spot. It was all thanks to my training that I’d been able to react so quickly and hit the group with such precision.
I was feeling pretty good about how much I’d improved when I suddenly heard another group of people screaming from the direction I’d just sent my attack.
“Oh no, the roof suddenly shattered! Run!!”
Turning in the direction of the screams, I noticed that the slash I’d sent had gone straight through the goblins and shattered the roof on the building across from us.
“What?!”
While it might be safe to use in open fields and forests, this technique was clearly no good in enclosed spaces with buildings all around. Glad no one was hurt, I decided to pretend I hadn’t seen anything. It had been an emergency, after all.
“Arc!”
I heard Ariane call out to me and reflexively tensed up.
“Wh-what is it??”
I looked back to see Ariane draw her sword and point down the street. Glancing in that direction, I spotted a number of goblins and orcs roaming the streets.
Rontestatt was located along the national border and thus surrounded by a massive wall. It was hard to believe these monsters had all gotten here on their own. Chiyome, meanwhile, had climbed up onto a nearby house to get a better look off into the distance.
“I can sense monsters roaming all throughout the city.”
Apparently, a great many monsters were now running wild in the city. But how did all of them get here?
This whole situation was oddly reminiscent of the undead armies in the former Holy Hilk Kingdom.
“What should we do, Arc?”
I turned my attention to the tragedy unfolding throughout the city.
If this was all due to a battle with a neighboring country, we needn’t get involved. In fact, we shouldn’t get involved, since we were only here on a secret mission.
I could simply use Transport Gate to return us to Lalatoya. If we returned to the village now, however, we’d only be able to teleport back to the burnt-down mansion here in the city. Since the teleportation point would take us to what had once been a room on the second floor, we would almost certainly plummet to the first floor the moment we appeared…though it was unlikely any of us would be injured by that.
We had been working as mercenaries in this city, albeit briefly. If we had to fly under the radar, I figured we could still act like mercenaries and protect the people. Besides, if things spiraled out of control here, it might hinder the rest of our mission in the empire.
“Let’s keep acting like mercenaries, then. If we can show off what we’ve got here, there’s probably a promotion to Silver Rank waiting for us on the other side.”
Ariane gave me an odd look.
“I figured that’s what you’d say.”
“Sounds like you read my mind, then!”
I meant to convey to her how impressed I was, but for some reason, I was only met with a deep blush and an angry outburst from Ariane. “It just means that you’re easy to read, okay!”
“Kyii! Kyiii!!” Ponta also chimed in from atop my helmet.
Honestly, I fancied myself as deeper than that.
Chiyome hopped down from the roof and landed easily on the ground.
“By the way, where are we headed?”
I looked around for a moment to check our surroundings before taking off at a run. Since we didn’t really know who or what was causing the chaos in Rontestatt, I didn’t have a clear destination in mind. However, I could hear screams all through the city, so I could at least gauge where there was some sort of clear threat.
Which could only mean…
“We just have to go in the opposite direction to the fleeing citizens!”
Ariane caught up quickly and held pace at my side as we ran against the flow of the crowd.
“Up ahead!”
Chiyome’s warning reached me at exactly the same moment as I saw her close in on a goblin that just rounded a corner up ahead. She approached the hungry goblin, her dagger already swinging, and its head parted company with its torso. The impact of the slash sent the decapitated head flying off into the distance. Chiyome didn’t even pause long enough for the blood to begin spouting from its body before she was off again.
She made quick work of her opponents, almost like some sort of demon.
“Gwaufoo!”
An orc nearly twice the goblin’s size stomped on what was left of the torso as it stepped into view. The moment it laid eyes on the petite Chiyome, it swung its crudely fashioned club right toward her.
However, Ariane was faster than the lumbering beast, and she lunged ahead with her sword.
“Gyafoogh?!”
Her sword pierced easily through the thick layer of fat covering its back, slid through its lung, and erupted out of its neck. The orc spat blood with a cry of agony before dropping on the spot.
Two more goblins appeared, but they fell to Ariane and Chiyome before they even had time to blink. By the time I finally caught up, there were no more monsters left to fight.
I was so much slower to react than my two companions that I was starting to have doubts about how much I could bring to the team right now. I figured I could probably keep running after them, but all I’d be doing was watching their backs the whole time. In that sense, it might be more efficient for us to each move independently…though given how little we knew about what was going on, that might be unwise.
“Kyiiiii, kyii.”
I wasn’t sure if Ponta was trying to comfort me, or simply amazed at how useless I was, but I could feel it batting the top of my helmet with its paws.
Lowering my gaze, I caught sight of something odd on the fallen orc’s torso. Ariane looked back at me curiously when she noticed what I was doing.
“What’s wrong, Arc?”
Instead of answering, I rolled the limp orc’s body over to expose the nape of its neck. There was a very familiar pattern etched into it. It looked almost like a simple coat of arms, or the kind of emblem you’d find on a car. In fact, it looked just like the one on the bandits who took over the village.
“Ariane, Chiyome, look at this. Does it look familiar to you?”
The two glanced at one another and then down at the orc’s neck.
“Kyii?” Ponta looked down too, cocking its head to the side in curiosity.
Ariane looked confused, but Chiyome seemed to figure it out right away. “This is… There was something similar on the bandits we captured.”
That was all the convincing I needed to know it wasn’t just my hazy memory.
“Oh, so you remember it too! That’s right, the bandits all had similar patterns on them.”
Ariane asked the only logical question. “So…what does it mean?”
However, Chiyome and I merely exchanged glances before shaking our heads. While we were sure the brand on these monsters was the same as the one marking all the bandits who’d taken the village, we had no idea what it actually meant.
“I don’t know what the brand means, but I’m sure there’s some kind of connection between the bandits and monsters.”
Chiyome checked the nape of the goblin’s neck where its torso lay still on the ground next to her, and confirmed that it bore the same mark, further cementing our suspicions.
“In other words, whoever was involved in the occupation of the village is also pulling strings behind the scenes for this attack on the city.”
I nodded in agreement with Ariane’s assessment. It made sense to consider the attack on Rontestatt as a direct assault on the border city, while the attack on the satellite village had been an indirect one.
“In that case, the Aspania Kingdom would have the most to gain from these attacks.”
If the kingdom and the empire went to war, the city would be an indispensable supply depot for the imperial soldiers holding the front line. The guild staff had said the soldiers couldn’t help transport the bandits because they’d all been sent to the border, which suggested the city’s defenses were weakened. If a city behind the battle lines was attacked while the soldiers’ attention was focused on the border, it would hurt their morale.
“But what’s the point of this brand? It just makes it easier to figure out the connection between the attacks.”
Diversionary attacks such as this were usually carried out in secret. Or was there a reason they wanted us to make the connection?
Suddenly, I sensed something at the edge of my awareness.
“We don’t have time to think about that now.” Ariane lunged ahead and slashed a goblin that had suddenly jumped from a dark alley down which it had been chasing some residents, felling it with just one blow.
She was right. Now was not the time.
“You’re right!”
I rushed after Ariane into one of the city’s major thoroughfares. There, I spotted a group of armed men escorting the residents to safety to escape the monsters and fire.
Though the weapons they wielded varied, the group were all garbed in a black color scheme reminiscent of a mercenary group we previously worked with—the Black-Fanged Dogs. They didn’t wear any signature emblems, like the Silver Blades, so it was hard to be sure, but there was no doubt in my mind that they were mercenaries.
The mercenaries were distracted by the goblins immediately in front of them, unaware of the three orcs approaching from behind. We rushed ahead to reinforce them, but it seemed unlikely we’d arrive in time.
“Behind you!”
Perhaps I shouldn’t have even said anything at all. The mercenary turned to look at me running in their direction—the direction opposite to the real threat—and started to call out to me. The next second, the orcs hit them from behind.
Could I have made it in time if I used my teleportation magic? For a moment, I began to doubt my plan to suppress our abilities. But I had no choice but to accept it was the right choice when weighed against the danger of blowing our cover while infiltrating the empire.
I swung my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg and slashed one orc in two, dodged an attack from the second with its crudely fashioned club, and then sent it flying with a kick.
“Kyii!”
Ponta, still wrapped around my neck, let out a cry as if to tell me it spotted something. A moment later, Ariane ran right past me and landed several blows into the orc I’d kicked away. She pierced its throat and heart, killing it instantly.
Chiyome flew past me toward the last remaining orc and lopped off its head with her dual daggers, the force of the blow sending its head spinning into the air.
The mercenary who had just been hit by the orc took one look at me.
“It’s… it’s those Ponta fools!!”
Thanks to the crude quality of the orc’s club, it seemed his injuries weren’t fatal.
“Kyii!” Ponta cheerfully cheeped back in response.
The mercenary hesitated at the sight of Ponta, at a loss for words.
The number of mercenaries referring to us as “Ponta” or “Ponta Patrol” were on the rise and, thanks to Ponta’s amusing reaction, this only seemed to keep increasing. Most people seemed to think it had a nice ring to it, but others considered it ridiculous.
These mercenaries were members of the Black-Fanged Dogs, the same group who’d joined us on the previous herb collection escort mission. The man stood up and glared, looking as if we had injured his pride by helping him. It was kind of gutsy of him to remain defiant under the current circumstances, but now was not the time for that.
“Don’t let your guard down, or you’ll get smacked again!”
Even if we weren’t going to be friends, there were more important things for us to do right now. The mercenaries didn’t seem to take kindly to this, shooting me hostile glares.
The mood was quickly dispelled, however, when a crowd of screaming people emerged with goblins in tow. The fight was on once again.
The mercenaries of the Black-Fanged Dogs raised their weapons and went back on the offensive.
“Kyii!”
Ponta cried out a warning that there were threats other than the goblins and Ariane, Chiyome, and I began scanning our surroundings.
I heard a whistling noise approaching from somewhere, and turned my eyes in that direction. A number of white streaks of smoke rose high into the sky before arching back down—right toward us.
“What’s that?”
It slammed into the ground a moment later. The smoke coming off of it was so thick that I couldn’t see anything.
“What is this thing?!”
“A smoke bomb?”
I could hear Ariane and Chiyome’s surprised voices through the smoke, along with the sounds of clashing swords and screams.
“Guwaaaa!”
“Why you…!!”
“Hyaaaa!!”
The primary voices probably belonged to the mercenaries. Had they been struck by the goblins? But too little time had passed between the moment I could no longer see and the screams for the goblins, who were slow, to strike.
Suddenly, Chiyome and Ariane jumped out of the smoke and held their weapons at the ready.
“Be careful! There’s a new enemy!”
Right as I was listening to Chiyome’s warning, something popped out of the smoke. Ariane and Chiyome both struck at it with their weapons, though they were met with a high-pitched metallic sound.
“Nuah!”
Something dove at me as well, but I managed to narrowly escape by batting it with my cloak. The object clanged loudly onto the cobblestones. It looked like some kind of elongated knife.
However, I had no time to inspect it. In nearly the exact same moment, three black shadows popped out of the smoke.
The figures were dressed entirely in black and all wore the same mask. Their costumes were reminiscent of ninjas, and for a moment, they reminded me of Chiyome the first time I’d met her. However, unlike the daggers Chiyome wielded, each of these masked ninjas bore their own weapon of choice.
One of them, armed with a longsword and shortsword, immediately engaged with Chiyome, sparks flying between the two of them.
Chiyome charged straight into the masked ninja with everything she had, causing her opponent to falter. She tried to take advantage of this opportunity and launched a renewed offensive, but he soon drew back.
Another masked ninja wielding a one-handed mace approached Ariane, but she easily dodged the first strike, met the second with her sword, and then knocked her opponent back with a swift kick. An anguished cry escaped from under the mask as the figure flew across the street and crashed into a stall. A moment later, however, he was back on his feet.
The third masked ninja, armed with a longsword and focused on me, lunged in for a quick strike, but I was able to deflect it with my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg. However, my opponent responded dynamically to each move I made, adjusting his strikes as he pressed the offensive.
Thanks to my special training with Glenys, I was, surprisingly, able to anticipate the direction of each strike and move my sword to match it. After several bouts, the masked ninja withdrew to create some distance between us.
He looked down at his own sword, almost as if in surprise. That made sense, considering that his sword was likely chipped all over from each time our blades met.
“The fact that your sword doesn’t break even in the face of the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg says much about your skill. Just who are you?”
The mythical Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg could cut through even a dragon’s scales. Any normal sword that took such a blow would have broken. The only reason this one hadn’t was because my opponent had angled the blade ever so slightly each time the blades met.
Glenys was particularly skilled at that technique and, even though she and I were only practicing, exchanging blows with my opponent felt similar to the sensation of crossing blades with her.
But he’s certainly not as good as her.
There was a tense moment of silence. My masked opponent seemed slightly shaken.
“How’s it going? Still alive?”
It seemed as if the masked ninjas were checking on one another. The other two masked men flanked the man with the longsword and shook their heads. Then, the man with a mace took something out of his shirt and tossed it toward me.
I tried to dive backward, but the world in front of me was suddenly filled with smoke again, leaving me unable to see anything. Wary of further surprise attacks, I held up my shield and focused on my surroundings, but nothing else happened.
“Ariane, Chiyome, are you okay?!”
I received an answer through the smoke. “It looks like they’ve withdrawn.”
“I’m fine.”
Eventually, the wind blew away the smoke and I was able to spot Ariane and Chiyome. It looked like the goblins had disappeared with the smoke too, perhaps wanting to avoid getting caught up in the fierce battle with the masked ninjas. We were immersed in silence.
“I suppose they’re the ones responsible for all this?”
If those masked ninjas were working with the Aspania Kingdom to capture Rontestatt, then that probably meant they were some sort of secret operatives.
Once the smoke cleared and we could finally get a good look at our surroundings, I saw the members of the Black-Fanged Dogs had all been killed. Stomachs cut open, heads lopped off, crushed heads…they were brutalized. However, this appeared to be the work of goblins and not the masked ninjas.
“They’re pretty talented. I can’t sense them anymore.”
Chiyome tried to pick up any sounds with her renowned cat ears, but finally shook her head, as if the big hat she was wearing as a disguise were getting in the way.
“I have mixed feelings about supporting the empire.” Ariane readjusted her cloak and let out a sigh.
I understood where she was coming from. The empire oppressed both elves and beast people, and the Aspania Kingdom was standing up against them. Fighting supposed operatives of Aspania was tantamount to taking the empire’s side. However, we knew nothing about what kind of country the Aspania Kingdom was, so we were in no position to ally with either of them.
I figured it was about time we moved on, since there were no more monsters in the area. But just then, a familiar figure appeared from the end of the street. He was dressed in black leather armor and wielded a long-handled battle axe.
Gramn, the leader of the Black-Fanged Dogs, ran straight toward me the moment he laid eyes on us. “I knew it! You were working with them!!”
He struck at me with his battle axe, probably because I was standing at the front of the group and was the most prominent of the three of us. I met his battle axe in mid-swing with my shield, sending it smashing into the cobblestone road with a terrifying clang.
“Nuuaaa!!”
However, Gramn immediately hefted his axe to strike again, this time in an upward sweeping motion. I once again met his blow with my shield, knocking him off balance. I held my sword at the ready.
“What do you think you’re doing, Gramn?! I pose no threat to you!”
This only seemed to anger him more. “What am I doing?! My men, they’re dead!!”
We had nothing to do with the deaths of the men littering the street, but we no doubt looked suspicious, standing nearby with weapons drawn.
But it’s a complete misunderstanding.
“Wait, wait, we didn’t do it!”
“Shut up! I’m not about to let you keep destroying my hometown!”
He swung his battle axe several more times, though I deflected each blow with my shield. So Gramn was from Rontestatt?
I dove back to put some space between us, shaking my head to clear it of any other distractions. Ariane, who had been watching the scene from a distance, called out to me with a look of annoyance on her face.
“It’s no use, Arc. He’s too angry to rationalize with.”
Gramn’s hateful gaze shifted toward Ariane, though she merely beckoned him forward with a wave of her hand. A blood vessel pulsed in his forehead as he raised his battle axe and turned his attention to her.
However, I lunged forward and slammed my shield into Gramn’s chest before he had a chance. Ariane probably didn’t need the help, but my body reacted before my brain had a chance to catch up.
“Gyah, you stupid little…!”
However, Gramn was the leader of a Silver-Rank mercenary group and no slouch himself. He caught the attack with the long handle of his battle axe and rolled with it, pressing both hands to the ground to try to regain his balance. But Chiyome had managed to silently close the distance and caught him with a knee jab to the jaw.
“Gyaunngh?!”
The completely unexpected blow caused him to drop his weapon and slump into the wall of a house, completely unconscious. Chiyome stood up and glanced down at Gramn, his gaze blank and eyes rolled back into his head.
“When you lose yourself in your emotion and narrow your focus like that, it’s all too easy to get taken out.”
That was something only the truly gifted could say, of course.
I walked up to Gramn and tapped his cheek several times.
“Kyii!”
Ponta also summonsed several magical gusts of wind to help shake him out of it. With his hair blown back like that, Gramn looked like he was sitting in front of a blow dryer. After several moments of low groaning, he soon regained consciousness and tried to jump to his feet, but the tip of Ariane’s sword against his neck changed his mind.
“Damn you!”
Ariane returned Gramn’s glare with her own golden gaze. “You were as good as dead, you know. But instead, you’re alive. If you don’t understand the difference between these two things, perhaps we’ll have to let you sleep on it for a while longer.”
Gramn swallowed hard at the cold, calculated force behind Ariane’s words.
“You…you aren’t working with those masked scumbags?” he asked, rubbing his chin where Chiyome had landed her blow. He leaned back, as if finally ready to listen. I could only assume the masked scumbags he was referring to were the masked ninjas we engaged with earlier.
From the way he spoke, it seemed that there were more beyond those we met. Well, it made sense that no one would attack a whole city with such a small group.
“It was the masked men who did your companions in. There were three of them, and quite talented at that.”
His face distorted at that and he averted his eyes before clenching his fist and punching the ground, possibly out of anger at not being able to protect his men.
“Hey, there he is!!”
A group of ten or so men rounded the corner and spotted Gramn. A moment later, they spotted me as well and held their weapons up at the ready, looking fierce.
“You back off from our leader now!”
“Now’s your chance if you’re hoping for a painless death!”
Ariane looked increasingly annoyed at the appearance of the Black-Fanged Dogs. Lifting her sword ever-so-slightly from his neck, she gestured toward Gramn with her chin, prompting him to shut his men up or something to that effect.
Her forceful yet collected demeanor reminded me that she and Glenys were related.
“Stop, you guys! These aren’t our enemies! Lower your weapons!”
Then men hesitated for a moment despite Gramn’s protestations. That’s right. With Ariane pointing the tip of her sword at their leader’s neck, they could easily assume he was being threatened.
“Ariane, wouldn’t it be better to lower your weapon?”
Ariane frowned slightly at this but finally lowered her sword and looked at the members of the Black-Fanged Dogs. Following her lead, they also lowered their weapons in turn.
Gramn immediately stood up, grabbed his battle axe, and returned to his men.
“Boss! Those masked men are setting fire to the city!”
“We still don’t have a full count of the monsters in the city, but we’re hearing rumors about minotaur sightings!”
Gramn frowned at the reports from his men as he tried to think. We’d managed to avoid conflict with the Black-Fanged Dogs for the time being, but it didn’t seem the turmoil throughout the city would subside overnight.
Ponta, now on my shoulder, twitched its ears in response to something. “Kyii?”
It didn’t seem like anything dangerous was approaching. Chiyome suddenly appeared at my side, seeming to have figured out what it was.
“I hear a woman calling for help…oh.”
She stepped forward to try to locate the person in question. At a loss for what to do, I glanced over at the Black-Fanged Dogs for a moment, but then quickly refocused and followed Chiyome in case I needed to act at once. Ariane also glanced at Gramn before spinning around, sending her cloak billowing behind her, as if she’d lost interest.
I returned my gaze to Chiyome’s back.
“Is the woman close by?”
“Please wait a moment.”
I couldn’t hear the voice at all, but Chiyome kept walking ahead, raising a hand to silence me. We stood there in silence for several moments, but even with all the screams echoing throughout the city, Chiyome was able to put her good hearing to use and pinpoint the voice’s location.
Eventually, I was able to hear it too.
“An…one…is the…any…there!”
I could hear a voice, but I had no idea what they were saying.
Up ahead, I spotted a stone bridge across a stream that flowed through the city. However, there were no monsters or people on the bridge. All was silent.
“Is anyone there?!”
This time, I could clearly make out the woman’s voice, followed by clanking and rattling sounds.
“This way.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Chiyome headed straight toward the bridge before hefting her petite frame over the railing and diving off. I hurried after her and looked over the side. It was a roughly three-meter drop from the top of the bridge to the riverbed below.
Chiyome stood in front of the entrance to a large sewage tunnel near the stone wall. Ariane jumped over the edge without the slightest hesitation and landed easily on the ground.
It smelled pretty bad, probably because the river carried with it the city’s wastewater. It must have been hard for Ariane to be down there, and even more so for Chiyome, considering her keen nose, though they both seemed calm. Maybe they knew some way to turn off their sense of smell?
The entrance to the large underground tunnel in front of Chiyome was blocked by a sturdy iron grate. However, the gaps between the bars were quite wide, to allow the liquid to drain through without getting clogged.
On the other side of the iron grate were two women who were surprisingly well dressed, considering the circumstances. One appeared to be some kind of servant or maid—the kind you’d find working in a noble house, the hem of her skirt drenched from the water flowing through the sewer. The other was a female knight decked out in an elegant, full-length shirt and pants of thick fabric, outfitted in armor protecting her chest, arms, and knees.
The two were clearly surprised at the sudden appearance of these figures who had literally dropped out of nowhere. I recalled encountering a similar scene back in the Rhoden Kingdom before.
“Who are you??”
The knight’s voice broke me from my reverie. She then ushered the maid-like woman behind her for protection. It looked like she was her guardian. Not that it mattered, seeing as the entrance to the sewage tunnel was blocked by a sturdy iron grate, serving as a physical barrier between us.
“We are mercenaries. We call ourselves the Turbulent Ponta Patrol.”
“Kyiiiii, kyii,” Ponta also chimed in from atop my head.
She seemed at a loss as to how to react due to the combination of my flashy full-body armor and the furry animal sitting atop my head.
While the knight remained perplexed, the maid came forward to ask for help. “If you’re mercenaries, then is it possible to hire you right now?”
Looking away from the pleading eyes on the other side of the grate, I glanced toward Ariane and Chiyome. Ariane shrugged and let out a sigh.
“Honestly, I don’t think now is the time for us to be taking on mercenary jobs.”
The maid looked dejected at Ariane’s response.
“I think it would be best to get you out of there before we listen to the rest of your story. Do you have a key or something to open the grate?”
I looked at the iron grate in front of me. For some reason, it had a padlock on the inside and was constructed in such a way that it couldn’t be opened from the outside. I would imagine most people would enter the tunnel from the outside for purposes of maintenance and inspections, but if the lock was on the inside, it would only serve to keep people out. Perhaps it was meant to prevent suspicious people from entering?
The maid tried again, this time with a new request. “No, I don’t know anything about the key. Could you at least contact the mercenary guild for me? Tell them it’s a request from my mistress…no, the lord’s wife.”
Was she really a maid? It seemed odd she would wish to make a request of the mercenary guild in the lord’s wife’s name.
Unfortunately, that too was impossible.
“Sorry, the mercenary guild was burned down earlier and is currently out of operation.”
The maid was surprised and confused upon hearing this. “What do you mean the guild was burned down?! You mean to tell me that the whole city was set ablaze and not just the castle?”
It was clear from both her actions and words that she had no idea what had happened here in the city of Rontestatt. Did this sewage tunnel secretly connect to the lord’s castle? I recalled seeing something similar earlier, in the Rhoden Kingdom. Perhaps something unexpected had happened at the castle, and they’d used this emergency escape route to go seek the help of the mercenary guild. But the exit at this end had been locked and barred, and Chiyome just so happened to hear their cries for help.
“The city is in chaos right now. There are goblins, orcs, and other monsters everywhere, and also a mysterious group of armed men who are setting fire to the city. It will be quite a challenge to find any mercenaries to assist you.”
Upon hearing my brief explanation, the maid slumped down as her knees gave way.
“By the way, did something happen at the castle?”
I received no reply from the dejected woman, who was still processing the gravity of the whole situation. Fortunately, the knight, possibly her escort, answered my question.
“A large group of bandits broke out of the castle’s prison and are on the rampage. There aren’t nearly enough guards at the castle to fend them off, and the lord’s wife and the servants are in hiding. There’s no telling how long they can hold out.”
Apparently, there was trouble at the castle, too. With its command structure consumed by chaos, it seemed it would be a long time before peace returned to the city. Considering the timing of it all, and between the monsters, fires, and prison break, it seemed likely this was all the work of the masked operatives. It was quite an elaborate plan.
Suddenly, I heard someone call out behind me.
“Well, isn’t that interesting. So the lord needs our help?”
I looked back to see Gramn standing there, ankle-deep in the water, with a wide smirk on his face. Ariane and Chiyome, who seemed to have already noticed his approach, merely shrugged.
“Who are you?”
Gramn splashed through the river to stand in front of the knight.
“I’m Gramn, leader of the Black-Fanged Dogs mercenary group. We’ll take care of rescuing the lord and his wife. Of course, I assume you’re guaranteeing payment?”
The other members of his group, whom he reunited with earlier, began to jump off the bridge one at a time. The knight turned her gaze back to the maid, as if to ask her what to do. She looked at Gramn and his group of ten before, oddly, turning her gaze back to me for some reason.
After a moment, the maid swallowed and replied to Gramn. “Of course we will pay. However, the amount will need to be negotiated with my mistress.”
Gramn immediately barked out to his men. “Looks like we’ve finally scored ourselves a big job, guys!”
I cocked my head to the side and called out to Gramn just as he was about to leave the river and rejoin his excited men.
“Where are you going, Gramn?”
He sounded frustrated. “Huh?! We’re heading to the castle, obviously. Didn’t you hear a thing she said??”
“Of course I heard her, but wouldn’t this way be faster?” I looked back toward the underground sewer entrance. “The fact that they’re here must mean it’s connected to the lord’s castle.”
The maid nodded quickly. “Yes, yes, that’s right.”
“Are you all stupid? Can’t you see this giant thing right in front of you?!”
Ignoring the slightly confused maid and frustrated Gramn for a moment, I grabbed hold of the iron grate attached to the sewer entrance.
“Hmff!”
With a dull metallic clang, the fixtures attaching the iron grate to the sewer wall shattered. The points of connection to the walls of the iron fence and the sewer ditch broke, and the grate swung open with a loud creak.
Gramn and the other Black-Fanged Dogs all stared, wide-eyed and frozen in place. Rather than rip the grate right off, I’d figured I’d be a little restrained and show off my strength by just breaking the hinges instead.
The knight’s calm demeanor finally gave way to a terrified look.
“There are still a lot of monsters running loose through the city, so perhaps this will get you to the lord’s castle with minimal distractions.”
Hoping to clear the stunned silence, I opened the iron grate up and gestured for Gramn to enter.
“You some kind of monster yourself?”
Still uncertain of my true intentions, Gramn sighed under his breath and led his men into the underground sewer.
The knight regained her composure and stepped in front of the group to lead the way. “I will guide you to the castle.”
As I watched their backs, I suddenly felt someone tug on the hem of my cloak.
“Would you also be willing to help us?” The maid grasped tightly at my cloak, her shimmering eyes begging. Hoping to escape her gaze, I glanced toward Ariane and Chiyome.
Ariane sounded resigned in her response. “You should do what you want, Arc.”
Chiyome nodded in agreement.
Ponta was busily amusing itself by constantly moving from my head to my shoulders. “Kyiiiii, kyii.”
The real reason for my hesitation was that I didn’t want to get too close to any powerful figures in the empire. But it seemed the more I tried to avoid it, the closer I was pushed toward them. Perhaps it was just a harmful side effect of staying in one place for a long period of time. However, this might also be the shortcut I needed to get to Silver Rank—once the chaos in the city subsided, of course.
I glanced at the maid.
Her once-beautiful dress now looked quite pitiful, thanks to the awful stench and stains of sewage. Considering she had walked all this way through the sewage tunnel to seek help, I could hardly just leave her without doing anything.
“Hmm. In lieu of pay, we will agree to help you under the promise that the lord’s wife will promote us to Silver Rank at the mercenary guild.”
I was hoping to minimize contact with influential people as much as possible by sending my request straight to the lord’s wife, rather than the lord himself. It might be a useless distinction, but it made me feel better.
“Thank you, thank you so much! Well, then, please follow me!”
The maid, who had once sat so weakly in the sewage, was now back on her feet and full of energy. I didn’t know why she was suddenly so full of pep, but it was important, all the same.
Ariane and Chiyome returned their weapons to their sheaths and slipped past the entrance into the sewer tunnel.
“Wow, that smells truly awful. What a day this is turning out to be, huh?”
Ariane gently pulled up her cloak to cover her nose. Chiyome was nice enough to back me up, trying to smooth things over with Ariane.
“Once the chain of command is back in place, the lord will regain control over the city. So maybe it’s not such a bad idea to try to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”
I nodded in agreement with Chiyome, only to be met by an elbow to the ribs from Ariane.
“Well, let’s hurry up and get this out of the way. You said the bandits are rampaging through the castle, right? This includes some of the ones we caught before?”
According to the maid’s story, it certainly sounded that way.
“Unfortunately, I believe so. There’s quite a few of them. They aren’t particularly skilled fighters, but they did have sheer numbers on their side.”
“We went through all that work to transport them… If I knew this was going to happen, I would have just spared the leader and killed all his men.”
Chiyome and Ariane’s remarks were harsh, but I had to agree. If only we’d killed them back then…but it was too late for that now.
The maid looked back at us from where she walked at the front of our group, her eyes wide. “A mercenary group as yourselves captured all those bandits?!”
Judging by the excitement in her voice, the rumors about us had reached even the castle. I didn’t think we made it that far…
Suddenly, the maid stopped. Up ahead was a side passage that branched off the main tunnel, with another iron grate like the one we’d seen at the entrance. This one, however, was already open.
“This way.”
We followed her through the iron grate and then another wooden gate further beyond that. The damp wooden door creaked, the noise unexpectedly loud as it echoed through the chamber. At the end of the chamber was a stone staircase, which we climbed to find ourselves in a large room. Suddenly, I felt all eyes in the room rest on me.
Inside were Gramn and his Black-Fanged Dogs, the female knight who led them there, and other women dressed similarly to the maid—probably servants. Seated in the back of the room was an elegant woman dressed in a beautiful gown. This had to be the lord’s wife the maid was talking about.
To my surprise, she looked no older than her late twenties. Despite this youth, and her makeup, she still possessed an aristocrat’s force of personality.
“Heh, so you came too?” Gramn sounded annoyed. He was probably worried they’d get paid less due to our presence, but had no choice but to let the issue drop, given the situation.
“Well, I figured the more the merrier if we wanted this to reach a speedy resolution.”
“Madam, I brought some mercenaries who have agreed to help us.”
The maid stepped out in front of the lord’s wife and bowed low before introducing us. The lady looked at me, Ariane, and Chiyome in turn.
“I just heard everything. The city is in a terrible state… Thank you for your efforts. So these are the mercenaries who will help save my husband and recapture the castle?”
She thanked the maid and then spoke to me. Under her deceptively long and delicate eyelashes, her sharp gaze bored into me.
“Have you no intention to remove your helmet and bow to me?”
Now that she pointed it out, I noticed that the Black-Fanged Dogs, even Gramn, had lined up and taken a knee. And then I remembered how we must look: a knight dressed in head-to-toe body armor, a female swordfighter covered completely in a cloak, and a young girl with a hat pulled down low over her head.
It was definitely not a good look in front of nobility. However, that didn’t mean I could just give in to her demands.
Maybe I could play the nomadic mercenary card?
“We are neither from your lands, nor the empire at large, but we came here at the behest of your maid. Should you not need the assistance of such a slovenly crew, we shall make our exit.”
A hushed murmur echoed through the room. The poor maid who’d guided us all the way here looked back and forth, fidgeting.
There were two reasons for the commotion. The first was our irreverent attitude toward the lord’s wife. The second…
“You aren’t citizens of the empire?”
Everyone had to be at least somewhat aware that the unprecedented turmoil currently befalling the city was the work of their neighbor. To call ourselves humans (kind of?) from outside the empire naturally drew suspicion. However, this shifted their attention from our appearance and demeanor to our origins.
“We’re from the Rhoden Kingdom.”
To be fair, while I had come from the Rhoden Kingdom, I wasn’t exactly a Rhoden citizen. I folded my arms to show I bore no ill intent and set my feet firmly on the ground as I returned the lady’s gaze.
“So, should we go home? Or should we assist you?”
We would help, but not submit. Most aristocrats would be enraged at this, but she seemed different.
“Very well. As of this moment, recapturing the castle as soon as possible is of the utmost priority. So, what do you want from me?”
She was certainly a wise woman. In fact, she even wanted to get payment squared away first.
“All we ask is to be promoted to Silver Rank at the mercenary guild.”
This seemed to take her by surprise, but she agreed. “Very well, I promise you will be rewarded for your work.”
The lady looked at the female knight standing at her side. The woman stepped forward and gestured for Gramn and the rest of us to follow her down a narrow passage that dead-ended at a bookshelf. She pushed on one side of the bookshelf and rotated it out of the way, revealing an entrance into another room.
“Past this threshold is the castle. Your mission is to kill the bandits in the castle and rescue the lord. Oh, and please take this with you.”
She handed Gramn and myself a medal with a palm-sized family crest.
“It is proof of your identity to show the lord and other guards and servants remaining in the castle. All you need to do is explain that his wife gave it to you. Good luck!”
She offered a curt salute and returned to the secret passage, closing the bookshelf entrance behind us.
After seeing her off, I looked down at the family crest in my hand, figuring it was kind of like a security badge. I slid it into the leather bag hanging from my waist and looked around the room. It seemed we were in a relatively small study.
Alas, we didn’t have time for a leisurely tour of the castle. I could hear a bestial roar, a scream, and the sound of clashing swords on the other side of the door.
Gramn shot a glance in my direction before barking orders to his men as they rushed out the door.
“Don’t let your guard down, men! And don’t let them steal our glory! Now, let’s go!!”
It seemed he had unilaterally decided that we were competitors. But if he managed to actively contribute to resolving this issue, that was fine by me.
“I guess we should get going too?”
I left my sword sheathed on my back and held up my shield as I began walking. While the castle was nowhere near as small as a commoner’s house, we were still indoors, and I’d have few opportunities to swing around a two-handed sword like the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg. But against rampaging bandits, an armored fist or a smack from a shield would be more than enough.
Ariane placed her hand on the handle of her sword and listened closely to our surroundings. “We’re not trying to capture them this time, right?”
Chiyome drew her dagger. “There are a lot more bandits than I expected.”
Even without encountering any of the men in question, it seemed she had a general idea of their number from the sounds of fighting echoing through the castle.
“Kyii! Kyiii!!” Ponta mewed bravely and swished its tail back and forth as it patted my helmet to urge me on down a corridor, opposite from the direction Gramn went.
Further down the hallway and around the corner, I heard a woman’s scream, followed by the sound of footsteps. Behind them, I heard a loud, inhuman cry rapidly approaching us. A moment later, a servant girl came tumbling out from around the corner, her legs caught up in her dress, followed by a shabby-looking man trying to dive onto her.
“Eeeeeek!!”
“Hyaaaaaar!!”
It was self-evident which one was the bandit here.
I readied my shield and quickly closed the distance, slamming the shield into the man’s side. It connected with his chin and sent him flying back down the corridor before crashing into a pillar. With my strength, no normal human being would be getting back up from that blow for a while.
However, contrary to my expectation, the bandit immediately got up on all fours, like a monkey, and raced straight down the hallway toward us.
“Hyaaaaaaarr!!”
“What the…!!”
The man’s eyes were bloodshot and foam dribbled from the corner of his mouth.
I smashed the bandit’s hand with my shield as he lunged in close, then kicked him back into the hallway wall. He tried to get back on all fours again, but one of his arms was broken, leaving him unable to support himself. He resorted to crawling on the floor. But as he struggled to get back on his feet, Chiyome appeared out of nowhere and closed in on him before stabbing her blade deep into his neck.
Even then, his limbs still flailed, as if he were some kind of zombie on the warpath. The female servant he’d been chasing was so terrified that her teeth were chattering.
Finally, the bandit stopped fighting back against Chiyome and seemed to lose all his strength.
“Th-th-than-thank you,” the woman said. It seemed as if she was simply too grateful at being saved to question who we were.
Ariane closely inspected the bandit Chiyome had killed. “That was rather odd. There was something not quite right about him.”
Chiyome ventured a guess based on her previous experience. “I’ve seen something similar to this with drug addiction, but nothing this powerful.”
This whole situation kept getting more troublesome. When I first heard escaped bandits were rampaging around the castle, I thought they were just looting and ravaging whatever they found. I figured that once a fighting force entered the mix, the bandits would flee as soon as the situation was no longer to their advantage. Even if Aspania had released them, there was no reason they had to continue to occupy the castle.
If the escaped bandits were all drugged up, however, we wouldn’t be able to win back the castle until we’d taken out each and every last one of them.
“Hyaaaaaar!!”
A bestial growl echoed from the end of the corridor.
Ariane lunged out with perfect timing as the sound of multiple footsteps closed in, piercing the raving bandit’s heart the moment he rounded the corner. Even with his heart run through, however, she had to struggle to keep him at bay. Just then, a second and third bandit jumped out toward her.
“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaar!!”
“Ariane!”
I punched one of the bandits square in the face to keep him from reaching her. He rolled several times and I followed that up by stomping on him to crush the bones in his legs. The sounds of shattering bones filled the hallway, but it still didn’t stop him. His mobility, however, was greatly reduced.
The bandit who was roaring like a beast looked familiar to me—he’d been the leader of the brigands we captured. He didn’t seem to realize the person in front of him was the one who’d locked him up in the first place. It was hard to even call these things human anymore, with their teeth bared and spitting saliva everywhere.
I grabbed the former bandit’s neck and twisted. There was a dull popping sound, and the man-beast dropped to the floor, unmoving.
Chiyome shook the blood off her dagger as she searched for her next target. “They can still be dangerous if you don’t make sure they’re dead.”
Looking down at her feet, I spotted the headless body of a bandit.
“That’s four down, but we’ve still got quite a few to go.”
“Let’s hurry up and get this over with.”
Ariane, having finished off the bandit she was fighting, let out a sigh before dashing down the corridor again. Chiyome and I followed close behind.
We continued to slay the bandits as we made our way through the castle, although we also encountered a great many massacred servants and guards along the way. Not only had the rampaging bandits lost all their capacity for reason, but their physical strength was drastically improved, making it difficult for a normal human to defeat them in one-on-one combat.
The Black-Fanged Dogs might have suffered casualties too, as a result. Suddenly, I heard Gramn’s angry shouts rising up from somewhere in the castle.
“Dammit!”
Ariane and I exchanged glances. Neither of us said a word as we rushed toward the voice, with Chiyome close behind.
I kicked a bandit who appeared in front of us out of the way and continued running until we found ourselves in a large, open hall featuring a wide staircase to the second floor. I spotted several figures on the dance floor at the base of the central staircase.
The first to draw my eye was a well-dressed middle-aged man. The next was Gramn, leader of the Black-Fanged Dogs, who stood in front of the man as if to protect him. Though he was accompanied by several other mercenaries, there were far fewer when we parted ways.
The middle-aged man Gramn was trying to protect was likely the lord. He looked terrified, though he was also screaming at Gramn all the while.
“Hey, do something! If I die, this city has no future!”
Gramn didn’t seem to notice. He was focused on his surroundings, weapon in hand. The people he was so wary of were not the same feral bandits we’d dealt with before, but figures clad entirely in black cloaks and masks with prominent dark red circles on them.
Chiyome eyed the masked figures, her expression tense. “Are they connected to the people we met in the city?”
We couldn’t just stand by and let the Black-Fanged Dogs handle this. It was evident from Gramn’s expression that he and the lord were in an untenable position. Many of the escorts who should have been guarding them were now lying on the floor, bleeding out. Some even appeared to be members of the Black-Fanged Dogs.
There were about ten masked figures in total, but it would be difficult for the Black-Fanged Dogs to handle them all.
“We’re here to help!”
My voice drew the attention of the masked ninjas.
I could use my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg here in the massive hall, so I drew the blade as I ran under the central staircase, followed closely by Ariane and Chiyome.
A number of the masked figures broke off to deal with us. About half of them were already armed. Three approached me, one with a longsword and two who were dual wielding short swords. Was I just the most conspicuous target, or were they purposefully trying to take out the member with the highest defense first?
In either case, I wasn’t about to go down that easy. I managed to deflect the blows of the two dual wielders as they came in from my sides, and met the longsword wielder with an upward slash from my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg before he had a chance to strike. Unfortunately, he dove back and out of the way before my blade met its mark. He quickly regained his composure and launched into another strike. He was quite talented, body moving fluidly to match the flowing movement of his sword.
The men with the short swords struck quickly at my blind spots and deftly evaded my blade. They were in a similar predicament to me, however, as no matter how many times they managed to drive a strike right between the seams of my armor, they hit nothing but bone, only managing to make me feel slightly itchy and uncomfortable. They seemed confused as to how I was still moving.
I finally asked my masked opponent what they hoped to achieve during a lull in combat. “What are you doing here?”
Though I could sense his strength of will behind his mask, I received no reply.
…But that wasn’t quite right, either. I could hear the muffled sounds of words seeping from behind the mask, but couldn’t make out any of them. Before I had a chance to ask what he was saying, chunks of ice began to form around the man’s longsword.
“Wha—?!”
Before I could even get a word out, the ice around his sword shot straight at me. I tried to pull my shield up in time, but misjudged their target: the ice chunks were flying toward my feet.
Numerous chunks slammed into me, but fortunately, my armor was strong enough to absorb the blow. However, the ice began to grow until my foot became part of a bizarre frozen sculpture, limiting my movement.
My opponents weren’t about to let such an opportunity go to waste, either. The men armed with short swords launched in from both sides once again, while the man with the longsword closed in from the front.
“Ponta!”
“Kyii!”
I called out to the companion wrapped around my neck, and it quickly responded by summoning up a gust of magical wind to blast the men approaching from my sides. Even with its spirit magic, Ponta still wasn’t quite strong enough to kill anyone.
However, the maneuvering room the blast of wind gave me was incredibly useful in combat.
“Wyvern Slash!”
I took a step forward with my ice-encrusted leg and swung my sword, sending an invisible blade of energy flying straight toward the masked swordfighter in front of me. However, his training seemed to have paid off, as he was able to sense the danger and dive out of the way. That was the first time I’d ever seen that happen.
The energy blade cut through the banister running along the stairs, filling the massive hall with a loud roar. The lord, who was quite close to the blast, trembled in fear.
This seemed to have caught the masked group off guard, though it also left Gramn and his men taken aback. As the masked swordfighter moved back in, the other two men wielding short swords drew back.
We watched each other in silence for a moment before the masked swordfighter and I exchanged blows, sparks from our swords flying everywhere.
Glenys may have taught me how to handle a sword, but I was nowhere near as good as my opponent. I was only able to withstand his dynamic mix of slow and fast strikes, as well as the onslaught of intermittent blasts of ice magic, thanks to my mythical Belenus Holy Armor. However, it seemed his true intention was simply to buy time. The two dual wielders who had fallen back were making their way to the lord and his Black-Fanged Dogs escorts.
I called out to Ariane as I continued to meet my attacker’s blows.
“Ariane!”
She immediately took off toward one of the dual wielders, but found herself face to face with a masked ninja before she could get there. This masked man was much bulkier than the others and wielded a long club, which he swung at her with nearly impeccable timing, keeping her from getting any further.
She’d have no problem handling him if she could use her spirit magic. However, since humans couldn’t use spirit magic, and we didn’t want to reveal her identity as an elf, she was stuck unable to use her abilities for the time being.
Meanwhile, Chiyome was locked in fierce combat with a masked female swordfighter. This masked swordfighter wielded a curved sword, reminiscent of a scimitar. Despite its graceful movements and the way the woman easily handled the blade, it could strike a heavy blow, which caused a great deal of trouble for the spritely Chiyome, armed only with daggers. She tried to use her speed to her advantage, coming within inches of landing a blow.
This was the first time I’d ever seen her struggle in sword combat—other than when she trained with Glenys and Ariane, of course.
“Eyaaaaah!!”
“Guuaaugh!!”
Elsewhere, the dual wielders finally joined the battle against the Black-Fanged Dogs, laying heavily into the mercenaries and taking out one after another.
“Shit, shit, shiiiiit!!” Gramn, the leader of the group, screamed out as he fought viciously, swinging his battle axe around to drive the masked ninjas away from his fallen comrades.
There was not a moment to spare. Gram was surrounded by masked figures who were far more skilled than he, and it was only a matter of time before he fell too.
I would need to strike my opponent with a significantly powerful blow if I hoped to achieve anything. I swung my sword through the air as fast as I could toward the masked man before me, drawing two intersecting lines through the air.
“Wyvern Cross Slash!!”
An invisible cross-shaped blast shot toward the masked swordfighter. He managed to evade it, but only just—scraps from his cloak fluttered in the air where he once stood. Further behind him, one of the stone statues adorning the hall was shattered to pieces in a loud, dusty explosion that blocked my view.
I didn’t wait for the smoke to clear before making my next attack.
“Wyvern Slash!”
I thought for sure I’d hit the masked swordfighter this time, but I heard the slash hit something, followed by what sounded like shattering glass. Apparently, he had managed to counter the blow with his ice fragments, causing the two attacks to cancel each other out.
But not entirely.
Sensing a moment of hesitation on my opponent’s part, I lunged ahead. Gramn would probably be upset at being saved by a low-ranking mercenary, but I couldn’t just stand by and watch him die.
The masked ninja struck me as I passed, but fortunately, my armor took the blow. I swung my sword in his direction to keep him at bay as I pushed on.
Up ahead, I spotted a masked ninja standing some distance away in the large open hall. There was something about them that made me feel uneasy.
“Open the gates and come forth from the other realm… Summon!”
A magic rune flashed on the floor in the center of the hall, and a dazzling light filled the room.
One after another, two-meter-tall magical wolves—otherwise known as haunted wolves—came running out of the light.
“Summoning magic?!”
I could use summoning magic myself, but this was the first time I’d seen it performed by someone else in this world. The fact that they had summoned monsters, rather than something more typical, suggested a lot about their ability to control said monsters.
“Awooooooo!!”
The haunted wolves could create illusory copies of themselves. In short order, the room was filled with a sprawling pack of the massive creatures. One dove at me, and I slashed at it, only to fly straight through as if I’d struck air. A moment later, another haunted wolf attacked me from behind and bit down hard on my leg.
“Gyaaaaaaa!!”
One of the Black-Fanged Dogs had just met his end. The haunted wolf bit down hard on the man’s throat, staining the hall with blood.
The odds were no longer on our side.
I blocked, slashed, and kicked at the incoming haunted wolves. Ariane and Chiyome were locked in combat with them, too. I kicked at an illusionary haunted wolf and then smashed the neck of a real one that lunged in before taking stock of my surroundings, realizing I hadn’t been attacked by any of the masked ninjas in a while—at least not since the wolves’ onslaught began.
Suddenly, I heard a high-pitched whistle, followed by two spheres flying through the air. Thick tendrils of smoke spewed from them as they landed in the hall, immediately blocking my view. I braced myself for another surprise attack, but all that came were more haunted wolves.
However, the smoke caused all the illusionary haunted wolves to disappear, allowing me to clearly make out the real ones as they approached. It also made it hard for the wolves to breathe, which was surprisingly beneficial to us.
Eventually, I could no longer hear the sounds of the haunted wolves’ breathing. Silence fell over the hall once again. Apparently, the whistle had been a signal for the masked ninjas to withdraw.
I squinted through the haze and called out to my companions.
“Ariane, Chiyome…are you okay?!”
“I made it through in one piece.”
“I’m okay too.”
I was relieved to hear their voices through the hazy white smoke. These were some of the strongest enemies we’d fought yet.
“Gramn, are you all right?”
However, this time I received no reply.
As the smoke gradually cleared to reveal the entire hall, I was met with an awful sight. Numerous guards and mercenaries lay still on the blood-soaked floor among piles of haunted wolf bodies. At the landing of the grand staircase, I spotted Gramn kneeling, using his battle axe like a cane. At least that proved he was still alive.
However, I didn’t see the lord behind him.
I called out to Gramn again as I walked up the stairs. “Gramn, what happened to the lord?”
He looked behind him, still in a state of shock. I followed his gaze, only to find a well-dressed torso…devoid of a head. Instinctively, I looked up toward the ceiling and let out a heavy sigh.
I’d thought they withdrew due to the heavy losses they were taking, but apparently, their mission had been to assassinate the lord the whole time. Once that mission was complete, they withdrew. This was quite the turn of events. I could only hope we didn’t get thrown into the dungeon for failing our mission.
A deep sense of gloom washed over me as I considered our next steps, but I didn’t have time for that now.
“Guaaaa!”
I heard the loud, ferocious cry of one of the feral bandits still on the loose echo from deep in the castle.
“I guess we still have work to do.”
I shook the blood off my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg and held it at the ready.
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