Chapter 167: The Second Event – Collapsing Kingdom – Part four

I threw a poison needle at the eye of a guard that was blocking my path, blocked a dagger that was flying towards me with my threads, then threw it towards an enemy that was approaching me from the side.

“Don’t let her through! Protect Count Marley!” The leader of the guards said.

“I’m a king now!” The count said.

“… Protect the king!” The commander shouted, corrected himself. It couldn’t be helped that they weren’t used to the new title of someone that was crowned so recently, but I don’t think they should be wasting their time in humorous banter in the current situation, “S-stand still! Don’t run!” The commander shouted as I used my shortsword to kill two more guards. Immediately after that, I threw iron scraps at the heads of the people that were trying to run away, then used a nearby corpse as a meatshield to block an archer’s arrow.

I wonder why they think that turning around and running is a good idea, it just makes them easier targets.

“Please help me!” One of the important NPCs I had already kidnapped in this kingdom was being a bit too loud…

“Be quiet.” So I put the arm of a dead man on his mouth, stopping him from saying anything else. It was nice that a dagger user tried approaching me from behind just as I was getting tired of this NPC, his arm was being quite useful right now.

The guard commander tried attacking me from the sides with his longword, but I parried his attack with my shortsword, “Monster…” He said.

“I’m really tired of hearing that…” So I used the <Pierce> skill to punch through this guard’s throat. Then I put an explosive within his mouth and threw him towards a group of guards.

“You barbarian! Don’t you even know how to properly duel!?” The king of this country said.

“Since when is there a proper way to fight…?” I didn’t quite understand his point. I made a proper declaration of war before invading, that’s about as much of a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ kind of action that I could take, yet he asks for even more? I wonder if Yuu knows anything about those weird standards… Or perhaps Eren does, he is a king now after all.

Oh well, it doesn’t really matter. I used another guard as a meatshield for arrows, put an explosive in his mouth, threw him against the archers, kicked a spearman that was trying to attack me from behind…

“Huh? You’re still alive?” I dodged an arrow that came from the place I had just thrown an explosive towards. I was sure that those archers were dead, but apparently there was a strong enough NPC there that tanked the explosion for them.

I threw a dagger that was lying on the ground towards this tank in order to finish him off, but my projectile was parried by an axe strike, “You sure were fast, Hannes.” I said as he stood in my way.

“You don’t need to kill them…” Hannes said. He was carrying the king on his back, which was nice since it means we wrapped up early, but it was a bit annoying that he didn't let me get rid of those guards, “Our goal here is just to kidnap them, remember?”

“Yeah, but… We’re also supposed to act like people in our factions, right?” I answered. It couldn’t be helped that I was doing some killing as a member of the Chaos faction after all… Though I suppose it’s also fitting for an Order member to stop me.

“Well, that’s true, so…” Hannes then gave me a mischievous smile, “No murders from now on.”

“What the…?” Was my reply. Isn’t this a totally one-sided restriction?

“Come on, listen to the end… I’m only banning murdering.” Hannes explained.

“Oh… I see.” So he is fine with me doing other chaotic things for as long as I don’t kill anyone?

“Don’t tell me that you can’t do this much.” Hannes said.

“I can restrain myself to avoid killing.” I replied.

“Promise?” He asked me while showing me his pinky finger.

“Promise.” I entwined my pinky with his.

——

(Hannes’ PoV)

Rena was grinning as she promised me to not murder anyone else. I understood that she was probably thinking that she could still go pretty wild even without killing anyone, but that much was fine.

“We promised, so make sure to stay true to this.” I told her.

“Don’t worry, it’s a promise after all.” She replied.

I know that I can’t stop her entirely, but this should at least limit how much trouble she can cause… It’s a start.

——

(Rena’s PoV)

So Hannes wants to get in the way of my opportunity to ‘play’ by using a promise? It’s kinda like ‘playing’ with a handicap then… This seems fun.

“It was a pinky promise, you can’t break it.” Hannes told me.

“Pinky promise.” I nodded.

More importantly though, I’m looking forward to ‘playing’ with Hannes and enjoying this pairing that the event decided for us.

——

(Hannes’ PoV)

I really have no idea how much chaos Rena would cause if she had nothing holding her back, so it’s a relief that she accepted this deal so easily… Sure, she could just be pretending to accept it, but I think she’s probably viewing this as an opportunity to have fun in a different way than normal, so… I guess this was a mutually beneficial proposal in the end. I limit how much trouble she causes, and she gets to have more fun than she usually has… It’s good enough, probably.

Rena giggled just as I thought that, “This will be fun.” She said.

——

(Rena’s PoV)

“Oh, will it now?” Hannes asked me, though he was also smiling.

And of course it will be, for we are ‘playing’ together!