#76 Rogue Dauphin (20) – A Cry of Victory

The Sarnos Knights were strong.

They were skilled at killing men, as knights.

Their bodies were shaped like men, but, when enhanced by mana, could perform feats rivaling the might of beasts.

Their equipment was also enhanced by mana, pushing their already formidable attack power and defense to the limit.

– And all that strength, before Dahlia, meant absolutely nothing.

WHOOSH!

Dahlia’s stance while facing the knights was peculiar.

She held the spear, which should’ve been gripped with both hands, in only one, and even then, she grasped it near the very end of the shaft, not the center.

Anyone with a passing knowledge of spearmanship would’ve described Dahlia’s stance as clumsy, or crude.

Wielding the spear in that manner might increase the range of attack, but it made it almost impossible to put any real force behind it.

The shaft might just graze the opponent’s body, nothing more.

A proper strike would be unthinkable; one would be lucky to avoid shattering their own wrist, a foolish act worthy of condemnation.

“Khuh-urrgh!”

Yet the knights of Sarnos, who had to confront such folly firsthand, could scarcely laugh at Dahlia.

Not because of some notion of battlefield etiquette, but simply because they were being slaughtered like insects by her clumsy attacks.

Just a light tap of the spear shaft, you say?

What were they supposed to do when that “light tap” crushed flesh and pulverized bone, leaving their innards a quivering mess?

It was akin to colliding with a speeding carriage.

Compared to a full-body impact, perhaps a glancing blow to the arm would be marginally less devastating, but even so, the point of impact was surely ruined, and the connected limbs would hardly remain unscathed.

Defense was utterly pointless.

A sword parry would shatter the blade, an armored block would buckle the plate, and strengthening sword and armor with mana made no difference.

Yet, it wasn’t Dahlia’s fearsome brute strength that truly plunged the knights into despair.

“Why! Why, for God’s sake! Why can’t we cut her!!”

The vice-captain wailed.

Even a common kitchen knife wielded by a village woman who’d never fought a day in her life could inflict a mortal wound on an ordinary person.

All the more so a sword wielded by a knight of the 4th Circle, its power enough to cleave stone.

And yet, Dahlia was taking those knightly strikes head-on, without a single scratch.

Even when they brought their full weight to bear in a shoulder charge, even when they plunged their blades into her back with all the momentum of their charge, all those attacks were stopped by her skin, failing to so much as leave a blemish, let alone a fatal wound.

“This, this can’t be happening…”

If one protected their body with thick armor, one could attack the gaps in the armor.

If one fortified their body with thorough defenses, one could break through those defenses with a multi-pronged assault.

But if she offered no defense whatsoever, dismissing their every effort while still absorbing their attacks without injury…

‘─Does this mean that whether it’s a 4th Circle knight emitting sword-ki, or a 1st Circle peasant holding a blade for the first time, it’s all the same before this woman!?’

The knights of Sarnos were strong.

Against an ordinary soldier, they could fight ten at once and win, and if they used hit-and-run tactics, they could handle a hundred.

However, if the enemy’s numbers exceeded a thousand, they could not guarantee victory, even against ordinary peasants.

For a human’s stamina, mana, and willpower had limits, and being struck by a stray arrow or blade resulted in injury all the same.

Even their commander, the 5th Circle powerhouse leading the knights, was no exception to this.

For aura, as absolute as its power was, was a force of immense consumption.

But Dahlia was different.

She didn’t need to consider the enemy’s numbers.

To her, mana enhancement was a passive skill as natural as breathing, one she could maintain effortlessly for an entire year without even trying to stop.

Even if the enemy numbered not just hundreds, but thousands, even tens of thousands, if none among them had reached the 5th Circle, she could slaughter them all without taking a scratch.

An individual cannot overcome the many. A capability that seemed to refute that very proposition with her mere existence.

Even this power had little to do with the spear techniques she had honed through training; rather, it was closer to something naturally possessed, simply by being born and living a common life.

Thus, Dahlia had suppressed and restrained herself more than anyone else.

Even if there were things she disliked, even if she sometimes wanted to smash everything to pieces, she adhered to discipline and rules with utter devotion.

Even when those around her mocked her as dull, clicked their tongues at her supposed slowness, she endured and endured.

She, who was born with a violence greater than anyone else, knew that if she used her power merely according to her whims, it would become a terrible disaster.

She worried that actions she took, believing them to be ‘right,’ might circle back and result in tormenting even more people.

She wanted to believe, as her father had said, that this power wasn’t for tormenting someone, but for helping them.

“…Even so, you have crossed the line. I know that holding back here is wrong!!”

With each swing of Dahlia’s spear, knights cherished and raised within the Sarnos County were swept away like fallen leaves.

Even if the opponent was a criminal, Dahlia would usually regulate her strength; but against those who attempted a massacre against the citizens, she showed no such restraint.

Faced with an opponent whose very presence seemed to crush the power they had cultivated throughout their lives, the Sarnos knights were seized with fear and shrank back.

It was a change so drastic, it was hard to believe these were the same people who had maintained such confidence against the citizens.

“Get out of the way! I will face her!”

The commander of the knights, noticing the demoralized state of his subordinates, leapt forward.

He sensed that if Dahlia was left unchecked any longer, morale would plummet beyond recovery.

If he couldn’t cut her down with swordsmanship, then he would cut her down with Sword Qi.

The commander thought this as he tried to rush toward Dahlia, but his intention was not fulfilled.

“Perhaps you’ve forgotten me? That would be disappointing!”

Dauphin.

The mastermind behind this entire incident, blocked the path of the knight commander.

Dauphin’s condition could not be honestly described as well.

His right shoulder was missing, and blood gushed ceaselessly from the severed end of his arm.

His complexion was pale, and his legs were trembling; he looked every bit the critically ill patient on the verge of passing away.

However, despite all this, Dauphin wore a brazen and confident smile on his face, and his eyes shone intensely.

The knight commander glared and gnashed his teeth.

“A dying bandit with only his mouth left!!”

The knight commander was certain of his victory.

Dauphin hadn’t been able to withstand his strike even when he was in perfect condition.

How could he possibly fight him in his current state, barely able to stand?

“Alright, I won’t deny it. Whatever your character may be, that power of yours… it’s tolerable enough, that’s the truth of it.”

Dauphin cannot defeat the Captain of the Knights.

However, that did not mean Dauphin was without recourse.

“Have you perhaps forgotten? I am not some knight who fights fair and square, but a cowardly, wicked phantom thief!”

So saying, Dauphin raised a small, gem-like object with his sole remaining left hand.

The Captain of the Knights visibly flinched, then frantically checked his person.

“Just when did you—!”

The magical artifact containing the incantation of amplification and propagation, the one he’d used to berate the entire city.

Dauphin, having pilfered it with nimble skill, activated the artifact without hesitation and cried out.

《Citizens of Levroux, I, Dauphin, ask this of you, and implore you to answer!—Are you not, incensed!?》

Silence fell.

Not from ignoring Dauphin’s words, but to better hear them.

《They say you are all sinners! That for cooperating with me, for sympathizing with me, the penalty is death! Is this truly so? Did you truly cooperate with me? Surely not! How could that be! I never accepted any collaborators in the first place, so how could I have accomplices!?》

The Captain of the Knights, realizing what Dauphin intended, lunged towards him.

Dodging the murderous assault as best he could, Dauphin continued to speak.

《Even though you have committed no wrong, they call you sinners!》

《Even though you have merely voiced your grievances, they call you sinners!》

《Even though you are simply struggling to live each day, they call you sinners!》

《Even though you have lost family, lost friends, and simply cried out in pain from endless suffering, they call you sinners!》

《’You irritate my nerves, die!’ ‘You impede my plans, die!’ ‘Compared to our lofty goals, your circumstances are irrelevant, so shut your mouths and die!’》

Someone clenched a fist.

Someone wept, overwhelmed by surging emotion.

Someone trembled, body racked by memories of the past.

《Have you not endured enough already! Have you not waited long enough already! Are you not witnessing this spectacle, where they commit one outrage after another, yet refuse to acknowledge their errors and try to crush everything with brute force! And still, you would say ‘not yet’!?》

《Do you imagine that if you sit idly by, I can solve all your problems? Do you think that relying on those guards over there will make everything alright? How long will you simply wait for someone else to solve your problems?》

《If there are any who think so, then I dare to say this! Enough nonsense! There is a limit to how much one can spoon-feed!》

If you have a complaint, speak it with your own mouth.

If you harbor anger, rise on your own two feet.

If there is something you desire, seize it with your own hands.

“Shut your damn mouth!!”

*Shhhk!*

The Knight Commander’s sword sheared through Dauphin’s body, and blood erupted from the deep diagonal wound that stretched from shoulder to thigh.

The amplifying magic device slipped from Dauphin’s hand, undeniably mortally wounded, and the Knight Commander crushed it beneath his heel, as if venting his rage.

“Whatever drivel you spew, do you think it will move these wretches!? They’re only good at relying on others and begging, these ignorant fools. Do you truly believe they’ll find courage and act because of a few words from you? Your delusions are grandiose!”

Dauphin replied to the Knight Commander’s words.

“Yes… perhaps not. My words alone might not possess such power. At best, they would be akin to a single drop in a cup.”

“Then—”

“But what if that cup was already filled to the brim?”

The Knight Commander froze.

He sensed an instinctive unease at Dauphin’s appearance, nearly dead, yet unwavering in his conviction of victory.

“You are the ones who filled the cup. All I did was add the last drop.”

Only then did the Knight Commander look around.

The City Guard.

The other armed force in this city, fully equipped, surrounded their knightly order.

And behind the Guard, tens of thousands of citizens seethed, fire blazing in their eyes.

“Ah… ugh…”

Apprentice Knights and their squires, the surviving common Knights, retreated, huddling together.

The Knight Commander, who would normally have rebuked them for such undignified behavior towards commoners, could not utter a word this time.

His back was drenched in cold sweat.

No matter how he was the strongest knight in the Virka Kingdom, it was impossible to win against such a number.

Perhaps the only guard who could make that happen was not an ally, but the strongest enemy.

He might be able to escape by exploiting an opening, but that act alone would drag the Order’s honor through the mud.

In the end, there was only one course of action left to him.

“Y-you! Are you all insane?! Our Order is the symbol of the Sarnos County! If you lay a hand on us, the Count will not stand for it!”

Threats and intimidation relying on the backing of power.

Such a petty tactic for those who were always so arrogant, but it was effective nonetheless.

However…

“Shut your trap, you piece of trash.”

Having forgotten that Dalia was nearby, his clumsy attempt to threaten the crowd could only be described as a foolish blunder.

Or perhaps, making him shift his focus was the Dauphin’s aim all along.

*Thwack!*

Dahlia’s downward strike connected, and the knight commander’s body slammed against the earth.

Almost reflexively, he’d wreathed himself in aura, averting a fatal blow, but with his stance shattered, he had no chance to retaliate.

Before he knew it, Dahlia had seized his ankle, and proceeded to hurl him onto the ground.

*Crash!*

*Crrraaash!*

*Crrrrraaash!*

Three distinct earth tremors.

Dahlia, having carved out a crater large enough to bury a grown man whole, tossed aside the twisted, mangled human mace.

And, with a detached air, she declared to the remaining knightly members:

“Continue, or yield.”

Without so much as a glance shared, they prostrated themselves, begging for their lives.

Seeing this, the assembled crowd erupted in a jubilant roar.

Loud, and long.

A roar that would carry beyond Levruk, throughout the entire estate.