CH 27

The soldiers faltered even more at the words of the princess. Some approached her regardless because they were driven by the desire to save her before the others.

The Kingdom of Lochastin desperately wanted to get her back.

If they save the princess directly, they would then receive a higher title along with a great reward. It was almost as if they could marry the princess if they did well.

Each soldier had their own imagination running in their minds.

“Princess. It’s urgent. Come on, this way.”

“No! He might be the Devil’s servant! Princess, come to me!”

“Huh, what? What did you say?! You are the Devil’s spy-”

“Everyone, be quiet.”

Tina’s aura rang beautifully and firmly. The soldiers, who were raising their voices at each other, suddenly froze and halted. Tina took a breath and then spat in a soft voice.

“There’s a song I want to sing for all of you.”

She gently stepped towards them like a white butterfly flying in darkness. The movement seemed too light and free for a person who was supposed to be locked up in a tower all their life.

“It’s my favorite song. I hope for you.”

Tina clasped her hands.

-Good night, my baby.

The beautiful tone flowed through the soldiers ears.

-In the front yard and back garden-

It was a lullaby that Lucia had sung to Tina steadily for 10 years. Tina, who naturally sang along, realized how to put the right type of mana into the song.

A tall tower.

Moonlight shining into the window.

A girl who sings with a beautiful voice.

-Birds and babies are sleeping too.

Soldiers who were staring blankly at the scene as if they were in a fairytale fell one by one. Some of them even began to snore.

After confirming that the tower was completely quiet, Tina stopped singing. She walked around the scattered room where people were lying on the ground.

“…Is it over?”

[I think so.]

Deran popped into shape and came out from the shadows.

[Everyone at the entrance of the tower even fell asleep. What an amazing ability.]

“Compliment me in front of the Devil. We’re not done with the plan. Where’s the other one?”

[Derakal fell asleep.]

“That unhelpful dog…”

Tina facepalmed.

She even warned him to keep his ears covered!

Eventually, Derakal was forced to wake up from a few kicks from Tina’s foot.

~*~

Tina’s magical voice lured most of the soldiers to the tower, but it didn’t work on some others that easily. There were armor-clad knights who were firmly equipped to resist magic and those who were too far away to even hear her. Some thought that Tina’s voice activates a smoke screen, so they tried to avoid falling asleep.

But, even those people did not know that they had already fallen into another trap.

“Sir Icus… Uh, sir?”

“Why are you here? Didn’t you go in the opposite direction from me?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you… I was wondering why you were here.”

The two looked at each other puzzlingly. The knights who followed them were also confused.

“We’ve only walked in one direction in the hallway. We never turned around or went the other way.”

“I was going to tell you the same thing. We also walked all the way down the same hallway.”

“Then…”

A subtle, gruesome feeling crossed their minds.

Perhaps those assumptions floated through their heads, for then they began to hear another voice that made them feel even more complex.

“What, why are you both here?”

It was Ermila, one of the other knights who had gone another way. Seeing her puzzled face, Icus and Kozen frowned.

“…”

“Well, this brought together the three teams that were supposed to be scattered in three different directions.”

Icus said while clicking his tongue. The three of them looked at each other and let out a sigh of despondency.

They were all elite knights of the Blake family. They were proud to not be pushed back by the imperial knights, but stupidly, the three of them all fell into a trap at the same time. Ermila went on to say that it was absurd.

“Wow, how amazing. Have you ever seen anything that might have caused you to be confused?”

“Not at all. I haven’t met anyone since I first entered the castle.”

“The same goes for me. What about you, Ermila?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying. All I remember is walking down the crappy hallway all this time…”

Ermila continued while scratching the back of her head. Kozen, who was agonizing, suddenly raised his head after reflecting on her words.

“Does the dark hallway have red carpets on the floor, no windows on the wall, and no decorative candlesticks repeated?”

“Hyak! That!”

“Yeah, that’s exactly how it was. Did you find anything, Kozen?”

“That…”

After a moment of hesitation, Kozen slowly opened his mouth.

“Maybe we’ve been subjected to the Devil’s power.”

“Power?”

“It’s not magic, it’s the Devil’s unique ability where it doesn’t need magic. One of the abilities is ‘illusion’ where it can control the human mind and senses.”

The faces of Ermila and Icus were filled with astonishment as they listened to Kozen’s explanation.

“That hallucination ability is amazing. Do you know how to get away from it?”

“It’s hard to recognize while you’re hallucinating, but it’s also not hard to solve. It’s just-”

Kozen lifted his sword and struck it lightly in the air.

There was a cracking sound, and the surrounding area quickly turned into a new place.

“It’s just easy once you realize that it’s not real.”

As soon as Kozen’s words fell, the space surrounding them collapsed. Besides that, nothing else affected them.

“If it weren’t for Sir Kozen, I would’ve been locked up here for the rest of my life.”

In fact, the space where they are in is not in the middle of a hall, but it was a round and empty place. The other knights who followed them also looked around with puzzled faces. Ermila then spoke to herself grumpily.

“No matter how powerful it is, there aren’t any other people around, and the three of us got beaten. What is this?!”

“I’m more curious about… why it let the three of us meet.”

“It’s him-!”

Ermila, who was trying to answer angrily, stopped talking.

Why? Perhaps it would’ve been impossible to notice that it was an illusion if the three of them hadn’t met at the same time. Even if she found out later on, it would take much more time to know than now.

Ermila stuttered.

“Well, you know, it’s…”

“Now I guess we don’t have to.”

Icus slowly touched the sword handle. A long sword appeared, making a swoosh sound. Kozen and Ermila also picked up the sword.

“I’m afraid we met the Devil before the warrior did.”

“I think so too.”

Someone stood out while looking down at them from above. Its black robe covered the entire body and it wore a mask while giving off a huge aura. Kozen took a step forward and bowed down.

“Nice to meet you, Devil.”

“You’re spitting courtesy to the Devil. Hey, get down here right now! Let’s play a game!”

“It’s not a confrontation, but a subjugation. I’m sorry, but I can’t politely do a one-on-one. I hope you understand.”

The three swords were engulfed in a blue glow. Like wild animals that would rush in without a glance, life spewed out from their eyes. Other knights behind them pulled out their swords one by one.

Everyone was closely watching the movement of the Devil while holding down their positions.

“…I’m sorry to hear that.”

But the lines from the Devil’s mouth came as a surprise.

“You must’ve been looking forward to fighting me. I don’t think I can listen to that wish.”

It’s not that it didn’t want to listen, but it can’t listen?

Kozen, Ermila, and Icus looked at each other with mysterious eyes. The Devil stood still and looked at the faces of the knights one by one as if searching for someone.

“In the end… she didn’t get caught.”

“Excuse me? Please tell us so that we can understand something.”

Without answering, the Devil reached out and activated the spell. As the knights faltered, the pre-prepared magic on the ground vibrated with a red glow.

“Wide-area! Get ready everyone!”

“Oh my gosh! This is why you brought us into this room!”

Each knight fixed its posture with a tense look on their faces. Since the unit was formed to suppress the Devil, all their armors had a high magical resistance.

‘If I hold on…’

“You don’t have to look at me with such aggressive eyes.”

Even though its face was hidden under a mask, somehow they could still tell that the Devil was smiling.

“Your attack will never reach me anyways.”

“It’s not an attack! It’s moving!”

“It’s a long journey from the capital of the empire.”

The magical resistance in the knights’ armors only works under attack magic. If it were to deal with others, they’ll need to get healing magic or else they’ll be feeling extremely uncomfortable using other types like teleportation.

The images of the knights became blurred more and more over the red-colored magic circle. What they thought would be an attack was actually a moving circle for teleportation.

The three knights looked at the Devil with trembling eyes in bewilderment.

The Devil then said in a detached face.

“Now, go back.”