Chapter 400 – Victory March (2)

000

The snowy winter festival day of the royal capital.

The temperature that day was exceptionally low, so the people of the royal capital did not even go outside, and everyone was living in the house, feeling the warmth of the stove.

You gather around the table with your family, talk about your New Year’s aspirations, or wish you good health in the future.

In the case of nobles, a dinner party is held to strengthen communication between nobles.

And after that dinner party was over, and after the sun went down, under the darkened night sky-

A voice resounded in the place where the path of magic lights continued.

“…Mother! There’s a girl over there…”

A blonde girl—judging by her attire her, a girl of aristocratic quality—leads her mother’s hand her into an alleyway.

She must be about 10 years old, and a girl with a blue crystal earring in her ear that does n’t match her her age her grabs her and leads her—

There, a girl who looked like trash wrapped in a blanket if she didn’t look closely, was shivering and shivering on the ground.

“…Severe wounds… Where did this…”

Her girl’s mother, who had found her, looked at her carefully—noticing the bruises on her body—and swallowed her breath.

“Uh, mother … That child, her fingers her …”

When the girl said so, her mother looked at her girl’s fingers and shook her head with a devastated expression.

All of her fingers her, which had turned blue and her veins burst, were frostbitten and necrotic except for her ring finger her.

“Right now, it’s better to move to the temple- no, the mansion. Today is a festival day, so the priests of the temple won’t be there. Let’s call the attending physician and treat it.”

“Yes…!”

“Ugh… Uh…”

When the girl nodded her head, the girl who was dying under her blanket let out something like a moan, as if she had come to her senses at the sound of the two voices.

Then her girl bent down on her knees, threw her own cloak over her, and talked.

“…It’s okay. I’ll save you now.”

“…”

The girl heard her voice and could only nod her head quietly.

A girl in a pure white dress with twinkling eyes and hair.

It was because she looked like a messenger from God who came to meet her from the sky.

001

The confrontation between the assassin and Cleon, which suddenly appeared, was fierce enough to stop those who fled in fear of the existence of both sides, and showed an unpredictable aspect.

Clearly, the assassin, who should have been an attacker, kept on the defensive with the sword breaker-type wrist blades attached to his arms his, gnawing away at Cleon’s time.

Cleon, too, realizes that if another assassin arrives while her goal her is to kill time, she can launch a pincer attack.

But most annoying of all, as an assassin, it is her skill to use fairly orthodox swordsmanship.

It can be said that it is a swordsman of a similar level to ‘Rubera’, which is rare among assassins and can handle frontal combat without any problems.

“Kuh…”

[You seem to have enough skills to break through the borders of battle maid… I’m sorry, Cleon. I don’t think anyone can go there to help right now.]

When she heard Lyla’s voice her in her head, Cleon checked her Galatea’s condition as she regained her breath.

That’s not going to happen, but Galatea’s screams and metallic sounds whenever her sword strikes Galatea make her worry that the sword’s blade might come out.

Seeing Cleon like that, the assassin let out a low, sullen laugh as if he was having fun.

Her she masked her she-her her Cleon decided to call her ‘her ring finger’ for now.

She perfectly blended her own swordsmanship with her assassin’s agility and grotesque movements, swinging her sword with a rather cumbersome trajectory.

The unique afterimage left on the trail of her sword her disturbs Cleon’s vision of her and makes her distance adjustment feel uncomfortable.

Was it that kind of enchanted equipment, or was it some kind of technology?

Either way, originally, it would be a deception that was nothing more than a trapping technique.

However, since her basics are solid, there is no doubt that she is a difficult person to deal with, since there is no gap even if she mixes and uses job skills.

While thinking about that, Cleon and her close the distance once again.

Kagak! And, frowning at the sound that pierced her ears her, Galatea’s blade was tormented by a groove made like drawing an irregular pattern on a sword, which also specialized in destroying her opponent’s weapons.

Her pained voice could be heard in Cleon’s ears her, but more than that, Cleon focused on the enemy in front of her.

“You are not an ordinary assassin. That swordsmanship, the kingdom’s swordsmanship.”

When Cleon asked such a question, the assassin flinched a little as if surprised, and then asked him while tilting his head.

“Heh… I know it well. I learned it with a little effort. You are an imperial swordsman. As expected, the disciple of Sword Saint Talcheck.”

“——You know very well. There are only a handful of people who use Imperial swordsmanship in this world right now.”

As for Cleon himself, he did not use particularly orthodox imperial swordsmanship.

Both Lecia and Talcheck were originally arranged based on the swordsmanship used in the Empire.

In the case of Talcheck, if it became a direction based on extremely wild feelings in order to survive as a gladiator slave-

Lecia’s swordsmanship is a swordsmanship that sharpens her body like a sharpened sword in order to protect others and herself.

It was unknown who taught Lesia her swordsmanship of her, but her use of such swordsmanship hinted at her master’s intention to protect her of her.

Similar to him, the swordsmanship of the assassin in front of her is a swordsmanship based on kingdom swordsmanship.

The kingdom’s swordsmanship was widely spread to the kingdom’s army and knights based on the swordsmanship devised by the Tromeia family over a long history.

Of course, swordsmanship is open to common people, so anyone who wants to learn swordsmanship as a means of defending themselves can learn kingdom swordsmanship.

As well as being an adventurer, Lavita’s swordsmanship, which he sparred with himself earlier, was based on the kingdom’s swordsmanship.

In order to shake her off her, Cleon wraps Galatea’s sword tightly around her magical power her, then releases her as it is, and the resulting magical pressure attacks the assassin’s body her.

However, the moment she looked at Cleon’s magical power her, she retrieved her own weapon and jumped backwards with her tight timing and landed lightly.

She tuk-tuk, in her cat-like movements, brushed off the hem of her own troservants. She is not visible because she is wearing a mask, but she speaks to Cleon with an attitude that she must be smiling.

“End of the question? Don’t you think you’d like to talk more?”

“Not really.”

When Cleon answered that, she flinched and shuddered, then ran the back of her wrist blade through her own hair.

Her hair could be cut off in clumps with the slightest misstep, but it seemed familiar to her to do that with her only ring finger her.

“Aha♡ It’s cold… But I want to talk to you more. I’m intrigued by you.”

“—Is this the first time we met?”

To Cleon’s question, she answered with a chuckle and a partial smile.

“Of course. It’s the first time we’ve had a face-to-face conversation like this. But… I’ve known you. I’ve been watching you from the moment you came to this capital. You seem to be quite close to the Tromeia family… Aruru. I heard that he might be the lady’s lover. A lover to that gorilla-like lady?Haha!!”

‘Lady Aruru…?’

Cleon felt something incongruous when she called her Aruru.

However, without a chance for him to deepen his thoughts of her, she talks openly.

“There, I’ve heard about that sword saint Talcheck’s apprentice… I thought that this would have to be done at least once… It would be even better if I could receive 3 million in the process.”

“—Then your purpose is not to be Amelia, right?”

When Cleon asks that question, she flinches once more, then she sighs heavily.

“Are you the imprisoned princess in the back of her? Yes. Of course, it would be nice if I could get her her bounty her… But there’s no way I can decapitate her unless I do something about that barrier.”

Cleon was a little dumbfounded by her act of revealing that she had no means to attack Princess Amelia on her own.

If she does n’t intend to attack her Amelia her, her priority her is a little less burdensome at the thought of not having to send her behind her.

“But the nobles still make a fuss. What does that girl say she will change when she becomes king? After all, this country is governed by a great will.”

“──Are you the Exiled Church?”

At her words her, when Cleon spoke in disbelief, she gave a hiss and brought her wrist blade in front of her mouth instead of her fingers.

“Don’t call their names too loud. They’re an organization sensitive to concealing themselves. …Well, I’m not exactly a member of them, but I’ve been indebted to them a little. That’s right, like you, I’m willing to work for House Tromeia. When I think about it now, it’s the past that makes my stomach turn.”

And, hearing that, Cleon was able to put an end to her suspicions that had begun with her sense of incongruity that she had heard earlier.

“…You were a Battle Maid.”

“That’s correct. I thought you would have noticed from my earlier remarks, but did you confirm it from what I just said?”

The fact that she was able to break through the siege of the battle maids and arrive here, and the fact that she calls Aruru ‘lady’ instead of ‘sir’.

Because he knew them well, and he was originally a servant of the Tromeia family.

“To be the lover of that Lady Aruru. There’s no way you wouldn’t be interested in it, right? I tried to assassinate Aurelia-sama, and when the other maids found me, I was killed on the spot… Shall I?”

“That’s an honor I’m not very happy with. That’s the end of the story. I know what kind of person you are.”

“My side isn’t over yet… Yo!”

The next moment, she, who had been on the defense until now, exploded something of hers that had been hidden under the coat of her suit around her waist.

As the white smoke rises, her figure disappears in a blur as if it is hidden in a fog.

Cleon follows her with her eyes her, quickly covering her mouth her.

‘Smoke screen…? Either way it’s annoying. He suddenly became like an assassin…!’

The next moment, if you think that the purple magic light passed right in front of Cleon’s eyes her.

Her body jumped right in front of Cleon, as if out of thin air.

Beneath the mask are sparkling purple eyes.

At the speed that had not been seen before, Cleon immediately took up a defensive posture while kicking her tongue.

“Sorry Galatea, be patient…!”

Galatea’s swords moved as if to wound Galatea’s body her as they mercilessly scraped at their blades her.

“Okay! The precious demonic sword is going to break! How long are you going to stop using your power!?”

“I’m different from you… Because I have to choose the time and the place…!”

In a place full of people, if you use your strength rashly, you can even get them caught up in it.

In that case, the responsibility would be shifted not only to the god, but also to Amelia, whom he was escorting.

And, of course, the assassin must have been provoking Cleon even though he knew it.

“If you act so timidly, you’ll end up losing everything you want to protect?”

The next thing she saw as she spoke in her whisper her was-

A bluish-blue magical light was flowing from the surface of the blade of the wrist blade of her.

Great! I heard a voice saying

It was so loud that I was worried that Galatea’s body might have been split.

Luckily, Galatea itself wasn’t broken-

The cold air from the assassin’s wrist blade came like a wave and froze Galatea’s blade.

“As expected, it was a sword imbued with magic…!”

“Yes, of course!”

With her triumphant shouts her, she pushed Cleon’s Galatea back with the swords in both hands as if dancing.

“I’ll tell you my purpose, which you may be wondering about! My purpose is, firstly, to kill you! And secondly, to make sure Lady Aruru can no longer hold the sword! It is broken into a mess… And no longer a warrior. You can’t fight!”

“I don’t think there’s any reason for Aruru to hold grudge against a guy like you…!”

As Cleon moves her sword quickly to parry her attacks her, as if to match her her dance her, she gradually increases her speed, driving Cleon away with her blue trail her.

“Resentment? Do you see it? Haha! Then you’re pretty stupid too!”

“It’s a story I don’t want to hear from an assassin…!”

Cleon is not impatient with her blows her, calmly calms her down and blocks them.

Unlike the swordsmanship of the Empire, which focuses on strength, the kingdom’s swordsmanship emphasizes flow.

Posture and posture are naturally connected, eliminating gaps in motion.

Her swordsmanship she literally draws out that ‘connection’as naturally as breathing.

The swords in both hands felt as if they were her arms her.

“There was a similar guy at the academy. I don’t know what happened to you and Aruru in the past… As long as there are people from the kingdom she needs to save, she will never let go of her sword – Arondite.”

“… Haha! It’s difficult to compare myself to Rail!”

With a mocking laugh at Cleon’s words, ice crystals burst from her sword.

[Magic Barrier!]

Galatea sees this and protects Cleon’s body from her by immediately unleashing her magical power she had been saving her.

The deployment of an instantaneous, limited magic barrier.

Moreover, it manifested a little away from the body of her, as if-

“Lavita’s Magical Barrier…!? Haha… It’s really fun…!”

Eventually, upon confirming that her own magic her was blocked, she immediately dropped her body her.

The sword that once burst her magic lost its light for a moment as if she had lost her magic her.

It looked like it would come back after a while.

First of all, seeing that the offensive was stopped, it seemed that he was thinking of finally allowing Cleon to attack again.

If her weapons and skills are specialized in restricting the opponent’s movements by sticking close, and playing with them.

Just block her approach itself, Cleon thinks and transforms the form of Galatea in her hand her.

‘A demonic sword with a bow…? Ah, is that the one I shot the ‘index finger’ earlier?’

Seeing Cleon’s weapon change, the ring finger grabbed one of the tools tucked into her belt her, sharpening the expression beneath her mask a bit.

A thread of tension pulled taut in an instant.

It was Cleon’s side of her that moved first.

In her eyes her, the imprint of a hunter like Sasha’s shone.

[Galatea, put half of her normal magic her into the arrow.]

[…Then the power and speed would decrease, right?]

Galatea does what she wants even though she doubts Cleon’s words of her.

As she said, the arrows of magical power that were caught in Cleon’s bow were shorter than usual, and it didn’t look like they would fly properly.

The next moment, when an arrow from Cleon’s bow is released, the arrow, which draws a sharp trajectory but doesn’t feel so lethal, flies.

“Something like this yawning arrow. The one I shot with my index finger was thicker and harder, right?

Perhaps judging that Cleon’s attack is not a threat, she swings her wrist blade and knocks out Cleon’s arrow her.

It’s an arrow made of magic, but it has physical power, so her sword quickly hits the arrow with no problem-

Next moment. When Cleon shoots another arrow, it curves in a strange direction.

Even she, who is at her own pace, couldn’t hide her bewilderment at the trajectory, as if there was a target in the air.

“…”

[Cleon?]

Obviously, the sword was the main weapon, but when Cleon, who used a bow quite often, although not as much as Sasha, fired two non-threatening arrows in a row, Galatea let out a panicked voice.

“It’s useless even if you try to hide your power now. Do you think I’ll catch my guard?”

“Hiding power? You sound strange.”

Cleon’s arrow to the assassin once again, Cleon talks.

“I don’t touch my enemies.”

‘What-‘

The girl with her ring finger stopped thinking for a moment while trying to grasp the meaning of Cleon’s words to her.

Did she think there was some kind of trick in the arrow she bounced off?

She frantically crosses her wrist blades, trying to protect her own body her.

But next moment.

“Simple. You.”

When she heard Cleon’s voice, she couldn’t help but panic.

Because Cleon was slashing her sword at her, right in front of her.

‘What!? What about arrows?’

Unable to keep up with her sudden change of weapon, she uses the back of her sword to catch Galatea.

Originally, the sword breaker should have the upper hand by binding the weapon with the blade of the sword, but the wrist blade, which did not demonstrate such merit at all, had no choice but to be pushed out of the power struggle with Cleon.

To make matters worse, he sees his weapon her being cracked by a blow full of mana.

“They kept talking to me, so I tried to give them a bit of information, but… Accepting information and putting it to good use is another story.”

“…! It was paint…!”

No way, in a situation where someone like Cleon would shoot two arrows without any meaning, clearly having something different inside.

After adding her meaningful words, she couldn’t help but bite her rice cake.

And that’s exactly what Cleon wanted, and she cuts her body from top to bottom.

Chew! When he heard the sound, blood gushed toward Cleon’s front her.

When the front part of her body is cut off, along with the mask she was wearing on her face her.

Her armor her hidden inside her suit her also fell to the ground as Galatea tore it apart like paper.

The red lines of the hideous wounds of her were engraved on the pure white flesh of her.

She staggers back and backs her, spilling her blood.

“It’s dark…”

“Even if it’s not fatal, there will be problems moving. I’ll send it to where my men are waiting.”

What Cleon took out while saying that was the handcuffs handed over from Merca at some point.

“…'”

Seeing that Cleon is carrying it, he tries to back away as she backs away.

Considering the amount of blood she poured out of her body her, her own life her would have been saved if she had not run away.

“…Haha… I lost. You… Might be stronger than Lady Aruru.”

“—That’s too much praise.”

With a clap, the handcuffs caught on her wrists her.

As Cleon wipes the blood off her face, she looks at the perfectly normal woman’s face beneath her broken mask, then turns to her side of her.

From that side, he could see the kingdom guards running.

‘…Doesn’t help the fight, but takes care of the aftermath.’

They must have been commanded from above to move, but it must have been tiring.

‘Considering that this is the beginning… It gets a bit gloomy.’

Saying that, Cleon left the assassin sitting on the ground and tried to return to where Amelia was.

At that time-

“Cleon!”

He turned to the voice of the assassin calling him.

She is talking with a somewhat resentful face.

“…Chris. My name is…”

“…Yes, Chris.”

“…Your lady… I’ll see if I can protect you well…”

After that, Cleon stared at the assassin who fell forward and collapsed into a puddle of blood.

As expected, I left it there and went back to where Amelia was.