Chapter 81

“It should be easy to manage with a heater spell. I’m going to go see if the treatment is going well, so please maintain the current temperature,” Davey said to Winley, who nodded with determination.

* * *

The atmosphere of the tent turned awkward after Davey followed Baron Gorneo out.

“You seem to really like Prince Davey, Princess Winley.”

A simple magic spell for temperature change was easy for both Yulis and Winley, both of whom had learned the Red Tower’s magic. Yulis, who was familiarly handling the heat with mana, asked the question with a faint smile on his face, so Winley’s expression softened.

Winley smiled. “Right? Big brother has always been such an amazing person, even in the past.”

“In the past...”

“He’s always kind to us. He stayed by our sides, saying that we’re family even though we have different mothers. He’s a little feisty... But we will never be able to forget the warmth he shows us.” Winley couldn’t even remember when it was, but she smiled while rubbing her red cheeks. “That’s why I like Big brother so much. I still remember the old story called ‘The Three Little Pigs’ that he told us when we were younger.”

“I’m envious,” Yulis mumbled without a hint of insincerity and smiled softly. “Then, Princess Winley, if I...”

Whoosh... Whoosh... Whoosh... Feeling a vibration, Yulis stopped talking and pulled out a small object from his chest pocket.

“A communication artifact?”

“Oh... My apologies. I must get this.”

Winley just smiled brightly and nodded. Yulis quickly got up and left the room with a pale face.

“Hehe. Maybe I’ll bake some delicious cookies for Big Brother.” Winley started to think about what she should do after this whole incident came to an end and the coalition finally left. Since Davey was here anyway, she wanted to show him the specialties of the territory and make him delicious food with the baking skills she had acquired. She smiled, thinking of all those happy thoughts. It could seem like she had romantic feelings for Davey, but she was just unfortunately obsessed with her older brother.

Tap... Tap...

“Oh, are you already back?”

It had been about five minutes since Yulis had left. Winley, who was releasing mana from her fingers, turned around and smiled when she heard footsteps behind her. No, she was going to turn around if it wasn’t for something hitting the back of her neck.

Thwack!

“Ah... Oh?” Winley collapsed without being able to fight back. She only saw a blurry image of an old knight wearing a red uniform with a scarf instead of a hood before passing out.

* * *

“Teacher,” Yulis greeted.

“Well, has everything gone well?” Hellison asked.

“Yes. Prince Davey is extraordinary. I didn’t know that he’s knowledgeable in the art of medicine.”

“Is that so?”

“The most outstanding thing about him is his confidence.”

It was obvious that Lington would do anything to achieve his goal. A person who killed someone else was called a murderer, and one who killed more than a single person was called a serial killer. A person who killed a hundred people was called a slaughterer, but killing ten thousand people could earn someone the title of hero. However, Lington’s strange ideology only made him look like a demon who had killed ten thousand people.

“You must be well!!” Yulis quietly ground his teeth.

* * *

Meanwhile, Davey, who was examining and treating patients in the treatment center that Baron Gorneo had led him to, frowned at the red armored knights. They were surrounding him with their swords out. He called out, “Hey, Baron Gorneo.”

“Yes?”

“Well, is there a problem?”

Baron Gorneo shook his head vigorously. “Absolutely not! Hey you, what are you all doing?! How dare you take your swords out in the sacred treatment center!!”

Gorneo was a superior of the knightly order, and so, they should be following his orders, but no one put their swords down at his command. The knights, who were all wearing strange-looking hoods with only the eye holes cut out, released ‘Aura’ from the tip of their blades. They were seemingly boasting that their power was higher than ‘Expert.’

The knights declared, “We have no grudge against you, but an order is an order.”

“Order?”

“Following the order of Count Lington, you must die here, Baron Gorneo. Your Highness, please follow us.”

Baron Gorneo widened his eyes in shock. “Why would he do such a thing?!”

Of course, the knights disregarded Gorneo’s protests. They said, “Do not fight back. It will just be more painful if you do.”

Clang!!! One of the knights swung his sword at Gorneo.

“Oh, really?” At the same time, a pale hand easily grabbed the end—the blade—of the sword without blinking an eye.

33. The Chase

“Groan...”

The probability was very low for an ordinary person, who was now aging and getting old, to block the blow of a knight who was more skilled than the ‘Expert’ level. Gorneo had no doubts that he would have been beheaded by the sudden attack. He did have Davey, a young man, by his side, but he had heard nothing about Davey having power. He just knew that Davey possessed an unstable stigmata... He was so certain that he had no choice but to die from that attack, so what was this?

Cling... Cling! The knight who held onto that sword was trembling. He looked at Davey, who held onto the blade with his bare hands, with mixed emotions.

“Y—Your Highness?” Gorneo called out.

“Are you alright?” Davey asked.

“Oh... Oh, yes.”

“Keugh!” The knight groaned, using all of his strength to yank the sword out of Davey’s grip. But the sword just wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he tried.

“Did you say that Lington sent you?” Davey asked the knights.

“...”

“Well, that politician guy bothered me a little, but I didn’t think that he was stupid enough to do something like this.” Davey’s eyes shone dangerously. At the same time, he tugged the sword toward him. The sword-wielding knight followed the sword, falling toward Davey.