CH 67

Chapter 67 – A Lonely Run

A full-body armored man with an ugly mechanical bow is the second prince of the kingdom?

When I killed the third prince, who was a mage, I think I heard from Myrril that the first and second princes were a swordsman and an archer.

I think it was the first prince of the kingdom who kidnapped Misnel and took her hostage. He was the one I shot dead with my AKM. He was dressed as a Kingsguard cavalryman, but he had a sword, I believe.

I see. The last one was an archer. Though, he’s now using a bad copy of a mechanical bow.

“…Oh, that’s right.”

“What’s the matter, Yoshua?”

“I’ve always wondered why. The Kingdom Army had far too much gold in their possession. They may need the money for rewards, supplies, and acquisitions, but they can’t take out such a ridiculous amount that the kingdom’s economy would collapse if they took it.”

“The second prince was working from the beginning to bring in the imperial army? If he were taking out a large sum of money to fund it, I wouldn’t be surprised. In the first place, money such as gold weighs a ridiculous amount when it is collected in large quantities. There is no place to spend money between the royal capital and Casemaian if you carry it all the way around.”

“If they hadn’t lost it all to us, they would have had something to negotiate with the empire.”

The question is, what happened when they lost it?

The three full-body armored figures that came all the way to the front did not move.

I got the impression that they were not in a proper state of mind, rather than being relaxed against Yadar and Minya’s attacks. It was as if they were sleepwalking or moving corpses.

“Yoshua, do you know what a mage in the Imperial Army is like?”

“What do you mean? I’ve seen their offensive magic.”

“That’s a low-level job. I’ve heard that the main job of a high-ranking mage is to manipulate people’s minds.”

…They’ve lost their money and backing and have been reduced to puppets in the empire.

I feel sorry for them, but that doesn’t change my mind. No matter what their position or what they’re forced to do, they’re all enemies of Casemaian.

“I guess we’ll just have to attack them and see how they react. Myrril, cover me…”

I was about to leave, but Myrril stopped me.

“Loaded and ready.”

Minya raised her hand at the Humvee’s gunpoint, and Yadar looked back at me with a satisfied smile.

“Good, good, Yoshua! Go!”

“Eh?”

“We’ve already slaughtered the archers and mages, so once we break through here, the enemy won’t be able to get to the Urals. You should go and deliver our people to Casemaian while we’re holding them here.”

“I don’t need to be told that. I know it! But leaving the Humvee team behind is not an option!”

“Yoshua, get a move on! Don’t worry. These guys have got their forces assembled here. There won’t be any ambushes ahead.”

“Don’t be stupid!”

I open the door and yell at Yadar.

She just tilted her head at me, her smile still on her face. The raindrops drip down her cheeks and wet her bared fangs.

“Do you guys even know what you’re doing? Even if you’ve killed the mages and archers, there are still over a hundred enemies out there! In addition to that, you don’t even know what the full-body armor group is like. We should all fight together here…”

“Yoshua!”

It was really a roar. The tiger girl’s roar made me hold my tongue.

In the forest, the shadow of the tiger stripes melted in the dim darkness. Only Yadar’s eyes glowed red as she held a gentle smile on her face.

There was the same deadly beast that I had seen when we first met.

“You’ve got it all wrong, haven’t you?”

“What?”

“I don’t know what you thought, but… We are not here just for fun.”

“Yeah. We’re here to rescue our friends. We’re here to protect everyone. That’s our role.”

Minya, who popped her head out of the machine gun seat, announced in a quiet voice. Perhaps it was the blessing of the wind, but her voice reached my ears easily across the distance.

“It was fun on the road. That was the best reward.”

The still young Elf looked at me without fear, trepidation, or excitement.

It was the same look she had when she had just been freed from her captivity that night and had committed her first murder.

“Goooooo!”

Perhaps thinking that the distraction would give him a chance to win, the metal glove man with full-body armor rushed towards Yadar.

His one leg is straightened out with the knee locked, but he bounces up and down, closing the distance, keeping low, and raising his fist.

“Yadar?”

“Come.”

She turned around and pointed at the air with one hand. Sparks sparked from her entire body as if electrified, evaporating raindrops and causing the fog to rise.

The moment the sage’s fist extended toward Yadar, Minya’s finger pointed toward the two, and a lightning-like discharge shot out.

The air is shaken by a tremendous burst of sound and blast, shaking the surroundings. As the fog dissipated, there was no trace of the two of them left.

The sage, who seems to have avoided the discharge by jumping back slightly, shakes his head and looks around as if numb.

“O-oohhhhh!”

The tip of the jet-black blade cleaved the side of the sage, who jumped back when he sensed the presence. It seems that he just barely dodged and was not fatally wounded, but with every breath he took, blood poured from his cheek, and his breath leaked out as steam.

“It’s not like this, is it?”

A crescent moon smile slowly spread across Yadar’s mouth as she walked behind the sage before he knew it.

“You’re going to keep me entertained, aren’t you?”

Yadar’s tongue flicked in satisfaction when she saw the gore on the machete’s blade.

“…Wha?”

The machetes, wielded without reserve, cut through the joints with precision and sent up a spray of blood.

The tiger Beastman’s reflexes and physical strength allow her to strike out with a series of blows that precisely pry open the tiniest of gaps in the armor’s working parts and openings to twist the blade. The sage kept his guard up and tried to close the distance, but he couldn’t even get close enough to touch her.

“This is where the guards come in.”

I was frozen in place, unable to make a move, but Minya announced and turned away. It seems that she has no intention of meddling in the game between Yadar and the sage. However…

“What are you doing? Charge in! Move your asses out of here! We have to kill those half-beasts!”

The man who seemed to be in command ordered his soldiers to charge with a voice that sounded like a scream. The M60s were aimed at the enemy lines that had begun to move. If anyone approached, the M60s would unleash 7.62mm NATO rounds without mercy.

“…Guard, huh?”

“Yeah! That’s why I’m going to protect you guys. I’ll protect you, no matter what!”

“You’re supposed to be doing your job, not thinking about anything else.”

“No one asked you to do that…”

“Get the hell out of here! Send our friends back to Casemaian! And then we’ll talk…!”

The sage’s fist breaks the machete that was struck with spirit. The armored man, who was about to be cut down, retreated with a beastly snarl as the blade of the follow-up attack was inserted into the gap between his wrists.

Throwing off the broken machete, Yadar pulled out a new black blade from her back.

“…There’s plenty more where that came from, eh? More than your hands and feet, right?”

“Damn it!”

I was just about to put it in gear and start driving when I heard the door open.

“…Sorry, Yoshua. Just go ahead, please. I’ve got some things to do.”

“Myrril. …Why you too?”

“I’ve always wanted to be with you. Even now, I think so with all my heart. But if I go with you here, I’m sure I’ll leave my heart behind. That empty me is not qualified to be with Yoshua!”

“Goaaaaaa!”

The sage shouted and struck at Yadar.

The saint moved quietly to go around the military truck as it began to move. However, the M60’s 7.62-millimeter rounds were sucked into the saint’s torso, but the magical barriers prevented them from doing so, causing her to only scream slightly. She fled deep into the forest and was soon out of sight.

The second prince holds up his mechanical bow as he jumps back to the opposite side of where the muzzle of the M60 is pointing.

“I won’t let you!”

A bullet from the UZI shot through the fingertip on the trigger, and the arrow grazed the Humvee and flew off into the depths of the forest. The prince disappeared into the forest on the other side with a high-pitched shout.

Neither of them was dead. Perhaps they hadn’t escaped either. There was a hint that they were waiting deep in the forest for the right moment to strike.

“Come on, Yoshua! You don’t have to think about whether you want to take 85 or 3! If you want to stay here, I’ll kill you first!”

In response to Myrril’s complete rejection of me, I cursed bitterly and started the Ural.

“Damn it!”

It’s only 20 miles (32km). Although it’s a rough road, I can get there in 20 minutes if I use teleportation. But if that’s how long it takes, I’ll have already settled the matter when I get back in teleportation.

I desperately steer the wheel and carefully press down on the gas pedal. The large, slightly deflated tires roll up the mud, but they soon grab the ground and start moving.

“Get out of the way, you bastards! I’ll run you all over!”

The imperial soldiers’ faces twisted in fear as they saw the huge body rushing toward them with the roar of a large diesel engine.

“S-stop it! Heavy infantry!”

They may have tried to form a dense formation as soon as they could, but they lacked the time, manpower, and ability to do so. In the first place, there is no way that infantry, who are powerless even against cavalry, can stop a military truck that is tens of times more massive than a cavalry horse.

The light infantry gathered with spears to protect the front, which was blocked by fallen trees, but they were of no use. I swerved just in front of them and poked the nose of the car through a small gap at the edge of the forest. The Ural bounced off the group of infantry who had failed to escape and crushed them as it broke through the imperial camp without difficulty.

“W-what are you doing? Hurry up and chase them!”

Are you planning to unleash your cavalry? There’s no way the horses can keep up with the speed of the military trucks as they wade through the mud. Even if they do, the spears and short bows of the cavalry will probably only be able to make a small hole in the container.

I quickly picked up speed to avoid injuring the refugees on the back of the truck and single-mindedly set my sights on Casemaian.

“…Oh, shit. Not again. It’s not like I’m being treated like shit again. You brought me here on your own, tried to kill me on your own, attacked me on your own, and now you’re dying on your own! Are you kidding me? Is it my fault? What do you people want me to do! You’ve got to be kidding me! I don’t give a shit anymore!”

Trampling through the bushes and bouncing off the rotting wood, I accelerate the military truck to its limit.

I was not going to be able to hold on like this. I’d rather die than leave my friends to die and run home, but killing the refugees because of it seemed a much more cowardly and humiliating act than dying.

“Oh, crap!”

Now I finally understood.

I finally understood how Yadar felt about the battle at the fork in the road. She had left us in the Humvee and was driving the school bus.

After what seemed like an eternity of sprinting through the forest, the plain in front of Casemaian finally came into view.

The Dwarves and Beastman, who had apparently been covering the construction vehicles with waterproof cloth, responded to my horn and took up an alert posture.

I stopped the Ural at the edge of the plain, in front of a hardened ditch, kicked open the door, and jumped out.

“We’ve got 85 refugees from the union. Secure the rest!”

“Leave it to me!”

He must have seen my face and the absence of the girls and guessed. No need to ask unnecessary questions.

I turned back the way I had come and began the short teleport. It was frustrating to have the ability to reach only within visual range in the narrow and intricate forest. I shifted to the top of the tree, set my direction in the sky, and then flew at once.

I grabbed my AKM out of storage and went straight into the middle of the battle that was still going on.

“Shit, don’t you dare die on your own, you idiots!”