CH 205

“Regardless, she’s a messenger. You have to let her go.”

“Ha! Ridiculous.”

“Sir Jenas. Jan Eugene is a duke of Brantia. His messenger is likely to be an elven noble of Brantia. If you aren’t careful, you could—”

“Fuck! Brantia or not, I don’t care. I’ll need to enjoy myself and cut that bitch’s head right now,” Jenas interrupted Jevin’s words and turned toward his men before shouting, “Hey! Pull that long-eared bitch off her horse!”

“What? B-but…” However, his subordinates hesitated. They had performed all kinds of dirty and cruel things ever since they became mercenaries. It wasn’t as if they suddenly felt conscious of their actions. However, they were still quite vulnerable to mysteries and superstition. Jenas’ men felt quite uneasy about the female elf, who was still looking down at them with calm eyes. In any case, elves were closely related to spirits, right?

They knew far too many stories about how recklessly messing with a spirit led others and their families to demise. They were afraid of inciting the wrath of a mystical being and being cursed by it.

“Huh? You punks! Stop dawdling! Pull that bitch down from her horse right now and take off her armor!” Jenas screamed.

“Yes, yes!” Eventually, several of his subordinates unsheathed their weapons and slowly approached Princess Lilisain and her escorting knights.

Shing.

Princess Lilisain pressed down on her helmet and unsheathed a longsword of Eland’s royal family.

Jenas burst into raucous laughter. “Hahaha!”

The elf had a body that looked firmer than other women, and she was taller as well. However, she was still a woman. In addition, how could such a pretty little elf know any swordsmanship? Jenas was certain that the enemy had sent an elf with such a fair appearance as a messenger in a flimsy trick to agitate them.

“How ridiculous. Even a dog will convincingly look like a knight if it has decent equipment—”

Wooong!

Jenas was interrupted mid-speech by a strong vibration.

“T-that’s…”

Jenas’ eyes grew wide with disbelief, nary a trace of the ridicule previously painting them. The same was true for the people approaching Princess Lilisain to drag her off her horse. They stopped midway and stared in disbelief at Princess Lilisain and the ancient sword she was wielding. All of a sudden, a blueish light wrapped around her longsword, and it exploded in a brilliant flash.

Shuacck!

The energy surrounding her blade burst like a wave. It carried with it a shockwave, which swept over three of Jenas’ men. The three figures immediately screamed and fell to the round rolling.

“Uagggh!”

“Hot! It’s hot! Kuaagh!”

“My eyes! My eyes!”

The three men were armed with vested chainmail, which protected their bodies. However, their faces had been exposed through the gap in their helmets. It looked as if their faces had been ground and crushed with gravel. It was a bloody mess. In addition, the leather clothes they wore inside the chainmail had turned into mere rags.

“It’s magic!”

Someone cried out, and the troops surrounding Princess Lilisain’s group quickly receded. The eyes of the soldiers became filled with fear as they stared at the blueish light surrounding the princess’ sword.

“W-what is this?! You wrench! What trickery is this?!” Jenas exclaimed.

“Ah, this is something known as 『Aura』. It’s a secret technique of Eland,” Princess Lilisain responded.

“What…” Jenas muttered.

“Of course, I’m not the only one capable of using it,” Princess Lilisain added.

“…?!” Jena’s eyes filled with shock, and the three knights accompanying Princess Lilisain swept their green capes back and pulled their swords out.

Woooooong!

Blueish lights began forming around their blades, though they weren’t as deep compared to Princess Lilisain’s.

“What?! I-it couldn’t be…” Jenas muttered with disbelief.

Princess Lilisain grinned. “That’s right. We are Eland’s royal knights. ▢▢▢ ▢ ▢▢▢▢!”

A strange but powerful shout resonated.

Uwaaaahh!!

The elven knights responded with a shout and guided their horses in a direction while swinging their longswords. Several troops collapsed with every swing of the elves’ aura sword, and blood sprayed everywhere. Chainmail usually provided good protection and could only be severed and penetrated by extremely powerful strikes. However, the elves' swords pierced the soldiers' armors as if they were nothing more than cheese.

That wasn’t all…

The swordsmanship of the elven knights was extremely fast and sophisticated. Even the knights of the Ashen Knights were unable to withstand the strong blows of the elven knights.

Princess Lilisain and the elven knights accurately targeted the joints and gaps in the Ashen Knights’ plate mails, and the fast, powerful blows containing the power of aura severed their limbs.

“Kuaaagh!”

“Argh!”

Continuous screams of pain accompanied the swift charge of Princess Lilisain and the elven knights.

“You fools! Crossbow! Shoot them down! Surround them with your spears!” Jenas screamed desperately. The spearmen and the archers began to move, but it was already too late.

Most knights excelled in horseback riding, and even among them, elven knights were known for their impeccable horsemanship. Their techniques were one level above the rest, and they could be said to be one in body and mind with their horses.

The elves weren’t simply fast. They were also confusing their opponents with their clever turns to escape the siege with ease.

Shing! Shishing!

Though dozens of arrows were belatedly shot, the elven knights were already far in the distance. After securing a sufficient distance from the enemy, Princess Lilisain once again turned her horse toward the army of royalists.

Neiiiiigh!

She reared her steed in a ceremony of victory.

- Ahh, this is called 『Mockery』. It’s something anyone can do.

Her words reached the army of royalists through some kind of magic. Then, Princess Lilisain leisurely turned around and disappeared down the hill.

“That fucking bitch!!!” Jenas roared with rage. He was furious.

“We’re chasing after her immediately! I’m going to kill that bitch and those long-eared bastards!” Jenas cried out.

“Let’s go!”

The Ashen Knights had been helpless as their captain was humiliated, and many of their colleagues were slaughtered. The spectacle of the princess’ beauty slowly began to disappear from their minds.

Around three hundred mounted warriors hurried in the direction where Princess Lilisain and her knights had disappeared to.

“Sir Jenas! You must not disperse the troops!” Jevin shouted.

“Nonsense! You take your time and come slowly with the rest!” Unfortunately, Jenas had already been blinded by his fury. He couldn’t listen to Jevin’s reasonable advice.

Tututututututu!!!

“T-This…” Jevin’s face gradually turned ashen as he watched the knights hurry away while kicking up a huge curtain of dust. Dark clouds gradually eroded the western sky, which slowly collapsed onto him.

***

Fifty warriors on horseback were riding along a gentle stretch of hills. A figure considered the leader of Maren’s knights approached Eugene, who was leading the group. He was Madrica, the talkative knight. In the past, he had received Eugene’s help while fighting against orcs.

“Your Excellency Duke Batla.” Madrica bowed. He had a good relationship with Eugene, and he was extremely polite as well.

“You can just address me like you used to, Sir Madrica,” Eugene responded.

“Ohh! Sir, you are still as humble as before, truly something I would expect from a man with a brilliant reputation practicing noble chivalry! I, Madrica, see your modest attitude as a mirror to reflect chivalry on which—”

Eugene interrupted the knight’s words in a cold voice. “That’s enough. What do you want?”

The prince alone was already talkative and annoying for Eugene.

“Ah, well, that’s…” Madrica hesitated, then glanced back at Maren’s knights before continuing, “The other sirs were just too curious, so I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“Hmm. I see. What is it?” Eugene asked.

“First of all, we were wondering about Sir Galfredik, your most trusted vassal and the embodiment of valor. We haven’t seen him around,” Madrica stated.

Galfredik was quite renowned in the Kingdom of Caylor, although not as much as Eugene. Moreover, the knights based in Maren, like Madrica, were very familiar with Galfredik's strength. It was natural for the knights to be curious about Galfredik’s whereabouts, as they knew he had always been by Eugene’s side.

Eugene answered, “Galfredik stayed behind. He has to stay by the king’s side for a while.”

“Hmm. May I ask why?” Madrica said.

“Brantia is still a little unstable internally. That’s why a reliable person had to stay by the king’s side,” Eugene answered. Originally, Eugene planned to bring Galfredik. However, Pythamoras objected as the king’s advisor. The reason was quite simple. The reign of King Luke in Brantia was quite, or rather, mostly dependent on Eugene’s strength. In fact, the reality was that the knights and nobles of Brantia were all prostrating to the throne because they were afraid of Duke Batla.

As such, there were sure to be those who would devise ploys during Eugene’s absence. However, it wasn’t as if Eugene could stay in Brantia forever, so Eugene had decided to leave Galfredik and Lanslo behind. The two were incredibly strong knights, but that wasn’t the only reason Eugene chose to leave them behind.

Galfredik could control the vampires of Brantia and the knights who had crossed over from the Kingdom of Caylor, while the knights of Brantia respected Lanslo as a member of the Drak family. In other words, the two knights possessed the skills and reputation to maintain stability and peace in Brantia. Regardless of their race and nationality, everyone would have to be wary of the royal family as long as the two knights were present.

Naturally, the two knights wouldn’t stay in Brantia for an indefinite length of time. Rather, they would remain there until the Caylor Kingdom’s knights had stabilized their positions as Brantia’s lords.

“Half a year at the earliest. They will return in a year at the latest. You were so curious about that?” Eugene said.

“Oh, I see. So your wizard stayed behind in Brantia as well?” Madrica asked.

“I worked her too hard until now. I left her in Brantia because she really wanted to work on her chimera. But, why are you asking about Romari?” Eugene asked. It was reasonable for them to be curious about Galfredik because he was a renowned knight. However, Eugene didn’t understand why they would ask about Romari.

“That’s a given, isn’t it? The name of the brilliant shadowflame sorcerer is famous! Everyone knows that she had defeated numerous evil monsters by your side and had even dominated the wizarding world of Brantia,” Madrica responded.

The brilliant what?

No, in the first place, had she ever done such things?

Her magic was sometimes useful, but he remembered that she spent most of her time refining mana stones…

“Kieeeh! What? Brilliant shadowflame sorcerer? A mere raccoon’s being called shadowflame? I’m against that nickname! Zombie raccoon is the perfect nickname for her! That or mana stone purifier!” Mirian exclaimed.

For the first time in a while, Eugene agreed with the spirit.

“I don’t know if a wizard with such a grand nickname is the same person as my wizard, but my wizard stayed behind in Brantia,” Eugene said. Romari started sobbing while pleading with Eugene, saying that she wanted to complete her chimera, and Eugene had no choice but to grant her wish. Naturally, he gave her a time limit. She would have to cross over with Gafredik in a year at the latest, whether she wanted to or not.

“Ah, yes, I see. Then about the battle with the royal army…” Madrica finally moved on to the main topic of discussion. However, he was interrupted by the appearance of Princess Lilisain and the elven knights. They could be seen at a hill in the distance, riding toward Eugene’s group like a storm.

“I, Lilisain, have returned after completing the glorious mission Your Excellency the Duke has bestowed upon me!” Princess Lilisain reported. The knights, in particular, the knights of Prince Localope, were relieved to see the princess’ safe return.

“Glorious? It was just a simple messenger mission. Anyway, good work. What’s the size of the enemy’s army? “Eugene asked.

“There were about three hundred cavalries and even more infantry. Their equipment and morale were excellent, but their skills were inferior to Your Excellency’s knights! No, rather, it would be disrespectful to compare the two,” Princess Lilisain answered.

“I see…” Eugene muttered. He had expected Princess Lilisain’s dazzling beauty and unique personality to cause a problem, so he was slightly surprised to see that she had successfully completed her mission without a hitch. Well, it was understandable because no matter how strange her personality was, she would most likely try her best not to cause an accident on a mission like this as she was an elven princess.

“Did you deliver my exact words to the enemy’s commander?” Eugene asked.

“I-I was incompetent!” Princess Lilisain became wide-eyed and hurriedly lowered her head before continuing, “It was because of the enemy commander’s horrid appearance, which resembled a half-troll, and his foul language… Keugh! Please punish this ignorant knight with death! Please take my head!”

So, she really did cause an accident. The knights looked at her as if they had already expected such an outcome.

“…”

Eugene was speechless. The princess was crying out desperately as if she had committed the greatest sin in the world. It had obviously been an important task to relay Eugene’s words to the enemy commander, but failing to do so wasn’t really a failure deserving of death.

Tutututututut…..!

A heavy rumble was heard from the direction where Princes Lilisain had come from.

“Hmm?”

Eugene quickly took Silion up the hill, and he soon took on a puzzled expression.

“I thought you didn’t relay my words to their commander? Why are they all coming after you like that, then? Princess, what did you say to the enemy commander?” Eugene had to ask once more.

“Yes! ‘Ahh, this is called 『Mockery』. It’s something anyone can do.’ Those were my exact words!” Princess Lilisain hurriedly answered.

“Amazing...”

Eugene was satisfied. She may have caused an accident, but she ended up achieving a much better result than Eugene had originally intended.

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