“——You lot!”
“Get out of the way.”
Kirkland wasn’t the only one searching for Margrave Melrose. Several knights were patrolling the highway in three-man squads, and one of them, upon spotting the Melrose party’s carriage on the road, had his head severed by the pink-haired girl running at the front.
“——!?”
The two knights with him noticed, but they were toyed with by the girl, who raged like a cyclone, and the pendulum’s blade, which flew by at high speed, and their hearts were pierced by daggers in an instant.
Even so, the Undead do not die. Given time, they could regenerate.
However, if their heads were severed, they couldn’t raise their voices to call for allies, and if their hearts were destroyed, they would be unable to move for dozens of seconds.
“Gugah——”
The next moment, the warhorse of a following knight trampled the fallen knight. There was no glory or pride in that death, and the Melrose knights closed their eyes for a moment as if in prayer, thinking of their former colleagues serving the same nation, now destroyed as mere monsters.
『…………』
The Melrose knights watched the “girl” running ahead with complex emotions.
The girl who was killing the monster called “Undead,” who had overwhelmed them, with just three people, head-on…
Those who worked in the castle knew her as “a Rank 5 Adventurer, the Princess’s right-hand woman.” Those without ability underestimated her, but those with a certain level of skill could gauge her ability without appraisal.
How did a girl who wasn’t even an adult yet obtain the power to be praised as a “Dragon Slayer”?
However, the Melrose House knights… especially those who had been around for a long time and knew the Margrave’s youngest daughter, couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu in her hair color and features, rather than awe at her ability.
The oldest knight among them, driven by something… as if chasing after the back of the master’s beloved daughter who had disappeared, suddenly moved his horse to her and called out to the pink-haired girl.
“…Miss Leighton, Melrose House is just ahead. According to the attendants, the rebel army seems to be approaching already. Please be careful!”
Aria responded to the knight’s words with a nod, turning her emerald eyes, the same as their master’s, forward.
“I’ll eliminate the obstacles. You head straight to the mansion.”
“Yes, sir!”
She was just a Baron’s daughter, an aide to the Princess. Just an Adventurer. Just a girl… but the veteran knight didn’t find it strange that he had naturally returned a salute to the girl, who was younger than his own daughter.
“I see it!”
My “eyes” that see through the night spotted the mansion in the distance, and at the same time, I could hear the faint sound of clashing swords.
“I’ll go ahead!”
“Good luck!”
With the words of the knight from before on my back, I increased my speed even further and rushed to the place where the battle had already begun.
It was called a “mansion,” but it was like a small castle, and several knights were rushing to break down its gate. About fifty cavalrymen… The number was probably smaller than I had heard because the Margrave’s return route was unknown, so they had dispersed their forces.
Fifty was a lot… but I could reduce them a bit now.
I erased my presence and closed the distance with full Body Enhancement, jumped onto the back of the cavalryman at the very end, and pierced his brain and heart with a dagger and knife.
“Gah——”
“…【Spark (Fire)】”
I lit the Utility Magic 【Spark (Fire)】 at the tip of the blade, as if burning the internal insects to death, and pulled out the blade, gouging the inside.
“Who are you!?”
As expected, the surrounding knights noticed. I immediately threw the Pendulum into the sky and shot down the knight who shouted as if swinging it down, blowing him away, helmet and all, with the Ball-Shaped.
Even if they were Undead, if they were judging with their heads, their movements would stop if I shook their brains. But before I could finish off that knight, another knight intervened, and several spears attacked me.
“——!”
I exhaled, jumped into the air as if leaping from the killed cavalryman, and dodged the spearheads.
“So you’ve appeared, Ash-Covered Princess!”
Did they know me? There was a knight who had rushed over from the front line. Estimated to be in the upper ranks of Rank 3… probably a company commander class.
The man smoothly fired multiple arrows. I, who was dancing in the air, couldn’t dodge those arrows—normally.
“What!?”
I kicked off the air, changed my posture with the reaction, and twisted my body while dodging the arrows, grabbing one arrow that I couldn’t avoid.
“I’ll return it.”
I threw the grabbed arrow back like a throwing knife. But an arrow thrown in that state wouldn’t have the power to pierce flesh. Even so, the reason I called out with my “voice” was to remind them of the remnants of what it was to be human (……..).
At the same time as the company commander reflexively dodged it, the Slashing Style Pendulum that flew out from the side slashed his eyes.
“Guooooooo!?”
Even so, the Undead didn’t stop. All of my attacks were inflicting near-fatal wounds, but they were hardly doing any damage.
“Don’t let this one escape!”
When the company commander shouted the order, the knights who had lost their will moved forward in place of the knights who still had their will. Knowing that they would lose their will if they died too much, the company commander tried to crush my escape route by using those who had died too much, instead of the knights who still had their will.
Were his wounds already healing? The company commander glared at me with one eye that had finished regenerating.
“It will be difficult for us to kill you, but until Amor-sama returns, we will have you stay here!”
“…So that guy’s here too.”
Dandole or Melrose. I thought he was with either of them, but Amor seemed to be here. That’s just fine. I’ll definitely finish him off with my own hands. But… not now (……..).
My hearing, which had been allocating a part of my consciousness, caught the sound (..) and I pointed my fingertips towards the approaching knights.
“——【Phantom Pain】——”
Dark Magic that only inflicts intangible pain… but Amor and his followers had also been investigating me, who was becoming an obstacle, and the company commander grinned with a blood-stained face.
“Such magic won’t work on those without will——”
At that moment, as if interrupting his words, the trained warhorses all went on a rampage at once.
I knew from the beginning that “pain” wouldn’t work on them. That’s why I shot the weakened 【Phantom Pain】 into the multiple horses they were riding.
“——Open the gate!!”
From the darkness of the highway, Melrose’s cavalry and carriage approached, and when Mikhail, who was standing on the driver’s seat, shouted at the gate, the soldiers on the gate who saw him began to open the gate in a hurry.
From there, the Melrose knights, who had been watching for an opportunity, jumped out and knocked the Second Knight Order’s knights off their horses around the gate.
“Quickly!!”
This was the only chance to pass through the surrounded gate.
“——【Phantom Pain】——!”
I also shot 【Phantom Pain】 at the Second Knight Order’s warhorses while jumping out of the confusion.
“Don’t let them get away!!”
The company commander nocked an arrow and fired it. The arrow aimed straight at Mikhail, and I, who had entangled the Pendulum’s thread and jumped onto the roof of the carriage, cut down the arrow with a knife.
“Aria!”
“Mikhail, charge!!”
At my shout, the soldier in the driver’s seat whipped the horses, and the carriage plunged into the gate, protected by Melrose’s cavalry, while the warhorses were still rampaging in confusion.
“Close the gate! Hurry!!”
At Mikhail’s voice, the knight who had jumped in jumped off his horse and lunged at the gate, and the soldiers and attendants who were there cooperated to close the gate.
At the same time, the sound of heavy objects colliding repeatedly echoed from the other side, and the knights and soldiers who were there grabbed their weapons and rushed up the castle walls.
“Don’t let them in!”
When the middle-aged knight shouted that, not only the knights and soldiers but even those who couldn’t fight carried garden stones and bricks up the castle walls.
It seemed like it was really close. Just as I was about to follow them and climb up the castle walls——
“Belt-sama, Mikhail!”
A woman’s voice could be heard from the direction of the mansion, and an elegant noblewoman accompanied by several maids could be seen rushing over there.
“Grandmother!”
Mikhail also called out and rushed to her, and the woman who hugged Mikhail breathed a sigh of relief when she caught sight of the Margrave, and her eyes widened as if she had stiffened at the end of her gaze.
“Cheryl…”
“…………”
A straight gaze that looked at me…
That “name” was… my deceased “mother’s.”
Grandmother sees her daughter’s image in Aria.
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Volume 3 of the book edition will be released on February 19, 2022! The first volume of the manga adaptation will also be released on February 15th!
For more details, please check the ‘Activity Report’ or ‘Twitter’.
I’ve also posted the cover art, so please take a look!