This is getting long again, so it will be in two parts.
Prince Amor’s rampage, spurred by the Saint’s intentions… That was all I could glean from what the dead Temple Knight had said. It wasn’t clear what he was trying to do using the Undead.
…This is more troublesome than I thought. That “Saint” imposter.
Just as I felt when I met her directly, perhaps I should kill her before she does anything more. But that would interfere with Elena, who’s trying to suppress the chaos and discord among the Holy Church and the people who believe in the Saint, and to secure evidence to condemn her.
Similarly, it’s difficult to easily hold Prince Amor accountable for his crimes, but this time, he has crossed the unforgivable line of rebellion, so it should be possible to fabricate evidence later.
For better or worse, that Prince doesn’t have as much influence as the Saint. Still, to entrust his subjugation to the Order of Knights, we need to gather that evidence. If we take too much time for that, there’s a chance Amor will achieve his goal… But.
“That’s precisely why I’m here.”
I will kill Prince Amor.
Facing an enemy of several hundred Undead, a task that can’t be entrusted to either the Shadow Unit or the Order of Knights, might seem reckless for me to take on alone, but if I assassinate Prince Amor, the knights’ rampage should at least be minimized.
“Grrr…”
“Sorry, Nero. I wasn’t alone, was I?”
I lightly patted Nero’s snout as he rubbed against me discontentedly, then mounted his back. First, we’d head for the Second Order of Knights’ training grounds, said to be near the Royal Capital.
“Let’s go.”
–Affirmative–
If I’m dealing with Undead, I also have the option of relying on my comrades from the Rainbow Sword.
Members of the Shadow Unit are always lurking in large cities. If I leave a message at the Adventurers Guild in such a city, I should be able to contact the Rainbow Sword.
Still, it’s uncertain whether we’d make it in time for Amor’s actions. As long as Prince Amor’s target isn’t clear, I think it’s best to have the Rainbow Sword protect Elena’s surroundings. I left a message for the Shadow Unit in a town along the way just in case, but for now, Nero and I have to act alone.
…But what is that Saint thinking? Normally, if the Prince, who is in the same faction as her, causes trouble, it would tarnish her reputation as well.
But… what if, even if it means a future “blemish,” her sole objective is to “achieve her goal,” just like Amor…
“Then we’d be making a huge miscalculation…”
Several days later, as I approached the Second Order of Knights’ training grounds, I felt a strange sense of unease.
“There’s no presence…?”
I’d heard that among the several training grounds, this was the one Amor’s sympathizers had requested to use. But if two hundred people were there, their presence should spread out like a heat haze, and traces of human presence should linger in the surroundings.
Monsters and animals, sensing that presence acutely, would avoid the area. Yet, I couldn’t feel much human presence around here; I could even sense large animals that should be sensitive to human presence.
“Guo…”
“…This is.”
Nero’s call drew my attention, and I saw traces of a large group of people having passed through a short while ago. The ground of the well-trodden road, where even ruts barely formed, was one thing, but if many people passed through, those who couldn’t fit on the road would leave traces of broken branches and trampled Kusa.
Weeds recover naturally even when trampled, but judging by the state of these broken twigs, people passed through here… several days ago.
Had Prince Amor and the Second Order of Knights already started moving?
“Nero, is there any human presence around?”
At my voice, Nero extended the whip-like antennae growing from his ears, making sparks of electric light crackle.
I don’t really understand it, but according to That Woman’s “knowledge,” he seems to be sending out electrical waves over a wide area to detect faint biological reactions. It only detects living beings and can’t distinguish if they’re human or not, but if there are creatures moving in groups in this forest, they’d either be wolves or humans.
If Nero can’t detect anything, then there’s no one around here. All that’s left is to painstakingly search for tracks on the road and follow them…
“Graaar!!”
“Understood.”
Responding to Nero’s cry, I dashed off in the direction his eyes were facing.
For long distances, riding on Nero’s back is faster, but for about two hours, my own running ability had improved enough to keep pace with Nero even when he wasn’t carrying me.
Nero and I didn’t take the road; we dashed through the forest, leaping from tree to tree, rock to rock. After running through the forest like that for about an hour —
“Graaar!”
“I see them!”
I saw a dozen or so people and a baggage wagon moving along a narrow road. They were from the Second Order of Knights, but not the main force. Probably supply troops carrying spare equipment and food.
I didn’t know if they were Amor’s supporters, Undead, or just uninformed soldiers. If they were merely soldiers, I had no grudge against them, but I would still have to resort to rough measures.
Zaaa!
“Ugh! Who goes there!?”
Leaving Nero in the forest, I emerged from the woods beside the road, blocking their path. The supply troops, after a moment of shock, immediately readied their weapons.
“I’m a knight from the Shadow Unit. We’ve received reports of Undead creatures infiltrating the Second Order of Knights and are conducting an investigation. Even if you have no knowledge of this, you will cooperate for the sake of national security.”
“–!?”
At my straightforward, tacticless question, several knights trembled with tension.
…Amor’s followers, huh? Not only that, but behind the five soldiers who showed tension, there were others who showed no reaction to this situation—likely the “Undead.”
Conversely, if they had meekly submitted to an investigation based on the words of a suspicious little girl like me, or if they had retorted with sound arguments like proper soldiers, they would likely have been truly ignorant, and I would have wasted my time…
“…Get her!”
The soldier who seemed to be the captain muttered with a look of resolve, and simultaneously, the soldiers behind him, showing no reaction, drew their weapons and lunged.
“Undead, as I thought.”
I slashed the neck of the first soldier who lunged with my knife, confirming he was Undead.
Nero’s presence stirred in the forest, but I gave him a light glance, signaling him to “stay put.”
“So, the Second Order of Knights was indeed plotting a rebellion.”
When I called them “rebels” with a contemptuous, unchanging expression, those who still possessed reason and intellect, including the captain, paled.
“A mere knight of the Shadow Unit dares to mock our aspirations!”
A young soldier who shouted this thrust his spear. As I dodged his spear and the attacks of the Undead, grazing them, I slashed the soldier’s arm with my knife. He dropped his spear and retreated, but then, with a smirk, as if showing off his healing arm, he drew the sword at his waist.
“You dogs of the greed-soaked Margrave! We, who have been granted power by His Highness Prince Amor, our justice will—”
“Don’t take unnecessary hits!”
“C-Captain, my apologies.”
The captain admonished the young soldier who was speaking, and the soldier paled as if he remembered something.
“………”
Margrave…? Why does that name come up here? Because I used the name of the Shadow Unit?
That’s also on my mind, but why would an Undead care about being wounded? That might be related to whether an Undead has reason or not.
Meanwhile, I narrowly dodged the attacks of the mindless Undead that kept coming, slashing at them with my knife, but the doll-like soldiers crossed the line of death without flinching. Their attacks, exceeding the limits of muscular strength, cornered me against a large tree trunk.
These Undead haven’t yet become “beasts” like those Temple Knights.
Those who still retain reason and intellect. Those who merely obey orders like dolls. And those who attack like beasts… If the reason for the captain stopping the young soldier earlier explains the difference between these three, then I can vaguely see what it implies.
“‘Wait’! Surround her so she can’t escape!”
At the captain’s words, the Undead stopped moving and spread out to surround me.
Certainly, if they want to fight while minimizing losses, that’s more reliable. But in this situation, letting the immortal Undead attack me directly should incapacitate me faster.
But the reason they went out of their way to stop that and “minimize losses” is—
“Because if too many of them ‘die,’ you can’t control them?”
“…You bitch!”
It was a guess I didn’t really want to be correct, but it seems I was right.
They probably haven’t been told themselves, but the Undead parasitized by insects “die” starting from the wounded parts…
The parasitic insects repair or regenerate the host’s body when it’s injured. But there’s no such convenient thing as gaining an immortal body without any cost.
When their bodies are wounded, those parts die, and the insects, as if using necromancy, manipulate the flesh and blood vessels, forcibly knitting them back together, I suppose. I suppose, much like vampires, there’s a limit in the form of magic power, but they’ve gained pseudo-regenerative abilities close to that of a vampire.
That’s precisely why, if they sustain too much damage, they cease to be living beings, and their reason is gradually lost.
That Temple Knight was able to control it well, but these soldiers cannot fully control the Undead who have become like beasts.
“…What do you plan to do with bodies like that? Is this what His Highness the Royal Brother has done? At least, Melrose-sama and Dandole-sama wouldn’t do such a thing, would they?”
“Shut up, you dog of the Prime Minister!”
When I voiced another question that had been bothering me, as if to provoke him, the soldier, who must have been anxious about his own body, raised his voice as expected.
“Your filthy Shadow Unit masters are finished too. Even if it’s the Dandole Family, the head of the Knight Orders, if they have no knights to protect them, they won’t be able to defend against two hundred immortal soldiers!”
“……”
Attacking the Dandole Family? If his words mean what they imply, does that mean a simultaneous attack on the Melrose Family and the Dandole Family?
Two hundred Undead would be quite formidable foes, but it’s still not enough to attack two high noble families simultaneously. So, instead of directly attacking the castle where the knight orders are stationed, are they planning to attack them when they return to their mansions?
The mansions of the two families are in the Royal Capital’s vicinity, but not actually inside it. Several high noble families have built their mansions outside the Royal Capital’s walls, and these also function as a defense for the Royal Capital.
The problem is that the Dandole mansion is to the north of the Royal Capital, and the Melrose Family’s is to the south.
“Nero!”
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”
Responding to my voice, Nero leaped out from the forest, shattered the neck of one who had stopped moving, and neutralized him by crushing his heart as if stomping on it.
In that same instant, I activated my Physical Enhancement to its fullest and slashed the Undead’s head and heart with my knife and dagger.
“There’s nothing more I want to ask.”
There’s no time. The attack has probably already begun.
“Wh-!?”
“A Monster!”
“Damn it! Everyone, ‘Attack’!”
The soldiers who still had their reason hastily ordered the Undead to attack. But their judgment was too slow. If they had zombified to the point of becoming beasts, they would have attacked on their own, but prioritizing the command structure, the soldiers—fearing the loss of their reason and consciousness even more—feared death despite their Immortality.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”
Swinging my Blade as I spun, my magic power refined to a higher purity, and Nero’s claws, as he spun back-to-back with me, like a small tornado, slashed and tore apart the Undead who had been ordered to charge.
No matter how immortal they were, dismembering them would seal their movements. Even if that didn’t kill them, the finishing blow could be delivered later.
“Impossible…”
At the sight of the supposedly immortal soldiers being ‘destroyed,’ the captain muttered in stunned disbelief, and the next moment, he glared at us and shouted.
“Anyone! It doesn’t matter who! Report this to His Highness!”
With true ‘death’ looming before him, perhaps his resolve hardened instead; the captain tried to buy time by sacrificing himself to inform the main unit of the threat that ‘we’ posed.
Sensing that resolve, the soldiers who still had their wits about them also attacked Nero, clinging to him like death-seeking soldiers.
Seeing his comrades like that, the young soldier who had initially flown into a rage wore an expression of anguish, but he tried to escape the battlefield without hesitation.
But I couldn’t let them escape either. I hurled a Throwing knife at his back, but—
“As if I’d let you…”
Just then, the captain leaped into the line of fire and took the knife to his forehead.
At this rate, he’ll escape. Just as I thought that—
“Out of the way!!”
Perhaps drawn by the sounds of battle, someone who looked like an adventurer appeared from the other side of the road, and the young soldier drew his sword to cut him down.
Kiiiiin!!
“Gah!?”
However, the young soldier was cut in two, steel sword and all, by the greatsword wielded by the adventurer, and was sent flying, scattering a spray of blood.
A pitch-black greatsword taller than I am… The man who wielded that greatsword with ease, a man even larger than the greatsword itself, spotted me and gave a faint smile.
“Was I butting in? Aria.”
“Feld!”
Why is Feld here?
Next time, the two converse, and another reinforcement appears…
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Volume 3 is scheduled for next spring!