After seeing Milena holding Lacy back, I headed to the Marquis's table
with Lucy.
Our men and the enemy soldiers kept slashing at each other without
formation in the room.
We forced our way through the sword fight, keeping our heads low.
Fortunately, no enemy soldiers noticed us and approached us, probably
because they were preoccupied with the men in front of them.
As we passed through the melee, bathed in blood where we could no longer
tell whether we were friend or foe, we saw the Marquis ahead of us.
He was staring at us with a sword he used as a staff.
"So Milena betrayed us," he said, "If she isn't, you won't be able to get
through Florencia this easily. When did you win her over? Milena hadn't
made any suspicious moves since she was cleared of suspicion until today."
"She was not yet a spy when you and Lacy were suspicious of her. It was
only right after you decided that Milena had not betrayed you that I made
my move. Because once a person is cleared of suspicion, they wouldn't
suspect the person again."
From that night until today, I had little contact with Milena.
Thanks to this, she was able to fulfill her assigned role without being
suspected.
But I suspect that the Marquis being too busy conducting the
countermeasure for the coup d'état to keep an eye on her, was also at fault.
"When I told Milena I could prepare the same medicine the Marquis has
been supplying for the Count's treatment, that was the time she nodded her
head. I guess she had enough of doing underhanded work for you."
"You stole the medicine, didn't you? So you were the intruders who entered
Zaintert's mansion!"
"That's right. You told Milena and Lacy never to get the dosage wrong and
never to touch the medicine, am I right? Isn't it like the devil to take
advantage of the children's hearts to save their father, even more so that
they're your own nieces?"
The Marquis laughed dryly at my words.
"Kukuku… I never thought I'd hear that from a man who has also
threatened an aristocrat and his daughter into adopting him to their house,
right after he plunged them into debt."
"Are you trying to tell me that I'm just like you with my case with Viscount
Karl? No, at least I'm better."
"Better than me in doing dirty work, you mean. In the end, we're both
scoundrels who will do anything to get what we want."
"You do evil for yourself, and I do it for my woman. That's the difference
between you and me! Lucy!"
I called out to my partner, and she stepped forward from behind me, her
sword already drawn. If y ou a re ab le to re ad thi s m ess age, yo u are re
ad ing fr om an un au tho rized aggr eg ate si te. Rea d at my Word Pr ess a t
sta bb ing wi th a syr in ge. h ome. blo g to supp o rt me and my tra nsl ati
ons.
"Can you do it?"
"Yes, my arm is getting better now. I can do it."
She held her sword in front of her and stepped forward.
"Prepare yourself, Marquis!"
"I won't give you this head so easily!"
In response, the Marquis also readied his sword, which he had been using as
a staff from the start.
And so the battle between relatives began.
Lucy was by far the faster of the two, but the Marquis defended himself
well, as if he could read the trajectory of her sword.
Also, the body of the old man who had received her attack did not even
move an inch.
"…he's more powerful than I thought he would be."
"Damn right I am. I am the head of a long-standing marquis family. I have a
different pedigree compared to those nobles!"
The Marquis laughed as he took Lucy's attack head-on.
"This body may be old, but my experience and innate power are top-notch!"
Lucy attacked again, but it was defended with minimal movement.
Apparently, she has enough power not to lose, but far from enough if she
wants to win.
And the longer we take, the worse off we are here. Lacy will break through
Milena and come this way.
"If it is your father, he would have struck me a blow already, but you are
not. You still have a long way to surpass him."
The Marquis was breathing more and more heavily, but he still seemed to
have plenty of leeways to spare.
In this case, I have no choice but to help her.
With my sword unsheathed from my waist, I waited, holding my breath to
catch the Marquis off-guard.
Meanwhile, the confrontation between uncle and niece was heating up.
"I have slaughtered my enemies many times in my life, but you are the first
to have disturbed me to this extent!"
"Why does my uncle want a dictatorship so bad? Refugees and nobles can
become more prosperous if they work together!"
Lucy insisted with a slash, but the Marquis caught her sword and replied
while they were locked in a fierce battle.
"What's wrong with wanting a dictatorship! This was originally the Krall
family's city, my city! I will not stand by and let the resident nobles,
immigrants, and refugees from who-knows-where do as they please to the
product of blood and tears of my ancestors and me!"
"If there is no land to share, then develop one anew. If we cooperate with
these people, we can do anything. To get rid of what you don't like and do
as you wish instead is what tyrants do!"
Lucy tried with all her might to break the Marquis' stance, but it wasn't
working.
"I don't care anymore! Let's finish this…eh!?"
Lucy was becoming slightly impatient with the time. The Marquis did not
miss it.
"You've gone too impatient, Lucy! This is it for you!"
The Marquis swung his sword with all his might as he attacked.
Lucy could not withstand the violent collision and was knocked off her
sword.
"Guuh…!!"
"Go apologize to your father in the afterlife!"
The Marquis swung his sword at Lucy, who had lost her weapon.
It's here. It's now or never!
I ran as fast as I could toward the Marquis.
"You dare to come out here? Then I'll make a blood bath out of you first!"
"No, Yuushin, get back!"
Lucy screamed, and the marquis' sword was thrust at me instead.
"No matter how much power it has, if you know its trajectory, then…!!"
Not stopping my pace, I removed the sheath of my sword and slid it into the
approaching sword of the Marquis.
"Y-you sheathed my sword!? How!?"
"Hate to say it, but I've already gotten used to seeing quick attacks! With
this, it's over!"
Using the remaining momentum of my run, I did a slide tackle on the
Marquis's legs and knocked him to the floor. Thi s ch a pter t ran slat ion is
ma de pos sib le by st abb ing with a sy ri nge tr anslat ion s. che ck on ly
up-t o-da te trans lati ons on my Word pr ess s ite.
"'Gghh… you son of a bitch!"
But the Marquis, too, grabbed me in a death-defying frenzy and took me
with him, and we both rolled around on the floor.
"Give it up already, Marquis! This is your end!"
"You bastard! I will not give you this city!"
We got into a tussle as we fell down.
"You should have stayed quiet as Lucy's adjutant, but you dare to challenge
me!"
"You were the one who tried to use Milena and Lacy to get to me first! I
had no choice but to retaliate, or I'll die!"
"Hmph! It's a rule of thumb to eliminate potential obstacles before they get
in your way! And this time, you're going to die for good!"
"It is I who will give you death here, you old bastard! Just go to hell
already!"
After saying that, I grabbed the Marquis by the collar and headbutted him
as hard as possible. Then I mounted him.
"Ugh…!"
Seeing that the Marquis' strength was drained by the impact, I used that
chance to take out a dagger from my pocket.
I then stabbed him in the chest without hesitation.
"Tell the Count in the afterlife I said hello!"
"Gahaaa!"
The dagger pierced right through the middle of his body and stabbed him
right through the heart, killing him.
After confirming that he was not breathing, I pulled out the bloody dagger
and raised it.
"The Marquis is dead! We have won this battle!"
The sounds of cashing blades stopped in response to my shaky voice.
Then, friend and foe alike, they all saw me raising my blooded dagger and
the Marquis's body lying cold at my feet.
The allies shouted a battle cry of victory while the Marquis's men slammed
their swords to the floor, either deflated or in frustration.
Even Lacy, who had been fighting Milena, stared at us in disbelief.
"Uncle… no way…"
She muttered in a daze and crumbled to the ground.
Milena approached her, her sword still raised, and made her stand straight
up.
"Your side has lost. It will no longer be good for you if you still fight from
here. Do you understand?"
With the loss of Krall and his son, there are no longer any people left to
provide a pillar of support for the other side.
Perhaps understanding this, Lacy ordered the surviving soldiers to disarm.
Leaving her in Milena's care, I approach Lucy.
"Commander Finlay. Are you hurt?"
"It's only a scratch, no problem. But please command the others to treat the
prisoners of war and the dead with the utmost courtesy."
"That much is a given. But milady must go down there at once, as we will
need your help to immediately quell the disorder and avoid unnecessary
casualties."
Lucy nodded at my words.
The battle is won. But we still can't let our guard down.
The future of our credibility depends on how quickly we can restore the
city's security.
We knew this, so we started to act immediately.