“……【Treat】……”
Having confirmed Grave’s death, I left the room filled with decay poison and used 【Treat】.
Originally, it’s a poison that’s handled in liquid form, and even though it loses its instant lethality when vaporized, I inhaled too much of it to hasten the conclusion. Leaning my back against the wall of the passage, I healed my lungs and respiratory system with 【Cure】, then wiped the blood from my mouth and started running through the dark passage.
Grave was an opponent with a history, but because of his unnecessary actions, his death didn’t evoke any emotion in me, even after settling things. He really was an awkward guy… Grave probably had his own thoughts, but they no longer reach me.
While running, I took out a homemade recovery potion and a Mana Recovery Potion from my pouch and swallowed them. My Mana and stamina are considerably depleted. I’m aware that I pushed myself too hard, but I still gained something.
Even before acquiring Iron Rose, I had been sticking to a combat style that emphasized my characteristic speed, but after several battles that strained my body, I became able to manipulate the Combat Art, Iron Rose, as speed-specialized.
The Mana consumption has doubled from the normal Iron Rose, and physically it’s limited to a few seconds, but I feel that this power will become my trump card from now on. And as a result, my Mana Control Skill had reached Level 5.
I’ve stepped into the realm that only the chosen can reach, the limit of the human race, by just one step. Using that Mana Control, I strengthened my body towards muscle strength, kicked down the wooden fence blocking the window at a height equivalent to the fourth floor, and jumped out into the sky that had already darkened as the sun had set, wondering how much time had passed since I infiltrated this castle.
“Nero!!”
『Gaaaaaoooooooooooooooo!!!』
As I shouted into the night sky, a black gale cutting through the night roared and picked me up on its back as it ran up the castle walls and soared into the sky.
In my Night Vision eyes, I could see the corpses of hundreds of failed creatures scattered in the Forest. I lightly stroked Nero’s back, who had attracted so many enemies, and turned my gaze in the direction Nero’s antennae were pointing, where I saw one of the Evil Race being torn apart by Nero and dying.
If I remember correctly, that Evil Race was one of Gostola’s subordinates. He probably stayed behind alone to fight Nero so that Gostola and his companions could go ahead.
Feeling that I couldn’t imitate their arrogance and take advantage of them as I had done before, feeling the ‘resolve’ of the Evil Race and the Vampires to risk their lives for their comrades, I also braced myself.
“It’s a battle, Nero. We’re chasing the Evil Race.”
『Gaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!』
From Marquis Kendras Territory to the Royal Capital, it usually takes three weeks to a month. But that’s if you’re traveling by carriage or on foot through a relatively safe, inhabited area, and if you use different means of transportation through a deep Forest inhabited by wolves and Monsters, you can shorten it to about a week.
That day, at the noble’s mansion in the Magic Academy near the Royal Capital, the attendants and servants were shocked and flustered by the sudden return of their mistress.
“Carla-sama!?”
“When did you return!?”
“You were supposed to have gone to Kendras!?”
“That appearance is…”
“I’m back.”
Carla, who suddenly appeared in the entrance hall of the mansion, with black Soulthorn affixed to her pathologically white skin, stated only her demands without answering the flustered attendants.
“More than that, I want tea with honey. And I want to soak in a warm bath, so prepare it immediately, will you?”
“Y-yes!”
“We’ll prepare it right away!”
The servants of the Count Leicester Estate remembered their roles and began to move busily. The Count Leicester Estate is a prestigious family of Magic that has produced many court Magicians, but for an upper-class noble family, it has few dependents, and perhaps because of its strong suspicion, it has few servants.
This was not only because there were few people, but also because the current head of the family, the chief court Magician, was feared by those around him as a cold-hearted person with little compassion, but now his daughter, Carla, was feared in every way.
Even so, those who had followed her to this academy and had known her since she was a child felt that she was deliberately acting in a way that would make her seem that way. But even for them, the abnormality of Carla’s actions in recent years had become difficult to understand.
“How hectic.”
Carla smiled sarcastically at the servants and attendants who were afraid of her, their master, and who had left without even letting her change her clothes. She returned to her room on the second floor on her own legs, and there she finally released her Divine Protection, Soulthorn, and a streak of blood dripped from the corner of her lips.
The reason Carla was able to return, crossing a distance that should have taken several days, was thanks to the Mana from her Divine Protection, which had no usage restrictions. Soulthorn allows her to use Magic up to two levels higher by consuming Mana. As a result, Carla had become able to use even 【Spatial Transfer (Teleport)】, a Level 6 Dark Magic that only a handful of users in the history of this continent had ever used.
Even so, Spatial Transfer requires a lot of Mana depending on the distance. The more Mana consumed, the more strain it puts on Carla’s body, and it’s not something she can use casually in battle.
“Fufu…”
Sitting down on a one-seater sofa in her dark room, Carla smiled as if recalling something.
She couldn’t see the details of Aria’s battle inside the castle, but Carla, who had watched the battle between the Evil Race and Nero from afar, inferred from their behavior that the Evil Race had taken the drastic measure of targeting the Royal Capital… probably the ‘Princess’.
The current Crown Prince Elvan is not incompetent, but he doesn’t have the resolve to take responsibility for the lives of 12 million citizens and abandon them if necessary, like his younger sister Princess Elena. Elena, who had that resolve at the age of seven, and Aria and Carla, who understood that, were abnormal, but compared to them, Elvan was clearly inferior. In peaceful times, he could have become an ordinary king, but in this situation, if the Evil Race’s mission was to weaken the Kingdom of Claydale’s national power, Carla would have thought that the Princess was a hindrance even if she were in their position.
Was Aria able to defeat that man? Can Aria protect the Princess?
No matter how Aria has the power of the upper Rank 4 and can even fight on par with Rank 5 enemies, it should be difficult to achieve either of those goals. If Carla lent a hand, the achievement rate of both would skyrocket, but Carla had no intention of interfering in Aria’s battle.
“…Because you’ll definitely win.”
It’s difficult for Aria to win. Even so, Carla didn’t doubt for a moment that Aria would win.
Aria will become stronger when this battle is over. Carla’s only interest is in a deathmatch with Aria, and she has no interest in any other life.
Carla, who had overdone it in this battle, would fall into a coma for several days. Knowing that, Carla smiled brightly like a child.
“When I wake up, I wonder who will be dead…”
The Evil Race Vampires run through the dark Forest like ghosts. Even though they are Undead who don’t need rest, as long as they are beings in the material world, their energy is finite, and they need to rest during the day to maintain their regenerative power and high abilities.
In the case of Vampires, they gain their Undead nature by taking in the souls of others through blood and absorbing the Mana attributes of darkness and earth into their bodies by sleeping in graveyards close to the earth.
“Gostola-sama…”
“As expected, with that body of yours…”
“…Don’t worry, Restes, Garii. I won’t perish from this much. Besides, we can’t let our guard down against those guys. Just think about what you have to do.”
“”…Yes.””
Even if the two companions couldn’t agree with Gostola’s words, they reluctantly nodded.
A Vampire’s body can regenerate from any wound as long as it has time and Mana. However, Gostola’s right arm, which had been torn off by Carla, still hadn’t regenerated, and his face, which shouldn’t have felt pain, was distorted in agony.
It is said that the reason why a Spirit without a physical body in the material world takes only about 10% damage even from a mere weapon is that the enemy’s malice and harmful intent are influenced by Mana. The reason why an Undead who shouldn’t feel physical pain is feeling pain is because Carla’s ‘malice’ was defiling not only his body but also his soul.
Carla will be coming after them in time. The black beast that had massacred the failed creatures who were the vanguard of the Evil Race will eventually come after them, even though one of their companions remained behind to stall them. And even Gostola has no guarantee that Grave, who is a strong person even from Gostola’s point of view, can stop that ‘Ash-covered girl’ with her bizarre strength.
Gostola didn’t believe that Carla and the Ash-Covered Princess had appeared at the same time by chance. He thought that someone in this nation had noticed their existence and sent them.
(…But this is also an opportunity.)
Even though they knew of the Evil Race’s existence and sent assassins, the fact that only those two were present meant that the nation hadn’t fully grasped their true strength. If that was the case, then the security around the Princess, without those two strong individuals, should be weakened.
The Evil Race wasn’t a monolith either; the extermination faction and the moderate faction, who had been around since ancient times, were fighting within the country. The Vampire Clan, recognized as one clan but not trusted as monsters, needed to demonstrate its existence within the Evil Race.
However, if their numbers were reduced this much, they would have no choice but to be hunted like prey.
Gostola and his comrades, in order not to waste this opportunity and the lives of their sacrificed companions, ran through the dark forest day and night, begrudging even the time to regenerate, and literally had no choice but to move forward, carving a path with their lives.
The Magic Academy also had security. For almost all the nobles in the Kingdom of Claydale, it was their alma mater, and their children and relatives would attend this academy, so a large amount of donations were given, and the number of members in the exclusive Knight Order established by those donations reached 200.
Of course, that alone wasn’t enough to patrol the entire academy, which was as large as the Royal Capital, but the academy was surrounded by a primeval forest, which served as a natural fortress that hindered those on horseback or wearing armor. In addition to that, upper-class noble families naturally brought several guards with them, so unless there was a situation like the previous one where a part of the Knight Order betrayed them, it was believed that there were no deficiencies in the security.
But because of that, there was also complacency. In the case of Princess Elena, there were few nobles she could trust, so she only brought a small squad of Royal Knights. Originally, that would have been sufficient, and since the Rainbow Sword girl, who was an Adventurer, was usually serving as a close aide, even an Assassin wouldn’t have been a problem.
But now… the figure of the girl called the “Ash-Covered Princess,” who was feared by those in the Underworld, was not next to the Princess.
“Aria… please, come back safely,” Elena, who appeared on the terrace connected to her room in her nightgown, looked up at the moon floating in the night sky and gently clasped her fingers together, offering a prayer for the only girl in this world to whom she had bared her heart.
Without even realizing that the greatest crisis was approaching her…
A black beast and a girl riding on its back raced through the forest, where giant trees grew thickly, making it dark even in the daytime.
There was no flat road or scenery in sight. Even so, the two of them jumped over huge rocks several meters high without slowing down even slightly, and raced through the maze-like trees, running freely in all directions.
The trunks of the trees they had passed through so far were marked with the claws of the beast, and the corpses of monsters, slashed and torn apart, were scattered like signposts.
“Kigyaaaaaah!”
Several humanoid figures with wings attacked the beast and the girl from the trees above.
The Rank 3 monsters called Harpies, with the wings and claws of birds of prey, and the upper bodies and faces of human women, believed that they were overwhelmingly advantageous in the forest, and wore bloodthirsty, distorted smiles.
“邪魔だ” (Jama da) – “邪魔だ” does not directly translate to “Out of my way.” It’s more like “You’re in the way” or “You’re a nuisance.”
“You’re in the way.”
The girl’s voice echoed through the dark forest. At that moment, a slashing style Pendulum flew out and sliced off the head of one of them, and as its blood splattered, a Blade Scythe Style Pendulum slashed through the Harpies’ feathers. The black beast’s claws and fangs tore apart the falling Harpies, and the girl and the beast raced through the dark forest without slowing down for even a moment.
Can the academy’s guards protect Elena? And will Aria make it in time?
Next time: Assault
Chapter 1 is almost over.
Thank you for your comments and typo reports.