「Amazing…」
The one expressing my admiration was me, Rosemary Loto Amelia.
As one of the candidates to take the throne, I had received training in both
magic and martial arts. The reason behind this was to make me capable of
protecting the kingdom's citizens. In times of war, I would have to stand on
the battlefield with both my cane and my sword for the citizens of the
kingdom. That was the instructions of the first king of the Amelia kingdom,
the tradition that had been carried out ever since the founding of the
kingdom.
Therefore, my eyes had seen all kinds of martial arts out there. I could see
that the two swordsmen fighting in front of us right now had mastered their
crafts to the extreme.
No matter how sharp Arnold's slash was, Signiel could always dodge it by a
paper-thin margin. And no matter how fast Signiel's dual-slash was,
Arnold's greatsword always kept him at bay.
Signiel made full use of his long and nimble body to move faster on the
ground, jumping high in the air as his attack rained down upon Arnold.
However, Arnold blocked all the incoming attacks with his greatsword.
The turbulent dance of the greatsword and the longsword under the
moonlight created an extremely beautiful spectacle.
「So this is a battle between the Sword Emperor and the Lion King, huh」
Anna, who stood beside me, exclaimed, completely flabbergasted at the
sight of the incredible fight in front of us.
「Yes, this is my first time seeing a battle to the death between two
geniuses, too.」
You could say that both of them were masters who had reached the peak of
humanity. Moreover, it was clear that their skills were equal. Despite
wielding the heavier weapon, Arnold could block all Signiel's fast sword
strikes. In short―
「Can our knight captain win?」
Anna asked me in an extremely anxious voice.
「The Sword Emperor can't beat Arnold.」
「Eh? But, no matter how you look at it, they're equally skilled, right?」
「That's why the Sword Emperor can't defeat Arnold.」
「Uhm, eeh….」
Anna tilted her head as a puzzled look appeared on her face.
「Arnold blocked all of the Sword Emperor's swift slashes with his
greatsword. In terms of raw power and weight, a greatsword is far more
powerful than a longsword. That's why, the Sword Emperor, whose weapon
is lighter, has no other choice than to keep pressuring Arnold with swift
slashes.」
The gap between the Sword Emperor's slashes became more and more
obvious as the fight went on.
Arnold's greatsword swung toward Signiel's trunk at explosive speed.
Signiel tried to dodge that slash by jumping upward, but he was a step
behind Arnold.
「UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!」
Arnold changed the direction of his slash mid-way toward the mid-air
Signiel, letting out a bestial roar that shook the air.
The greatsword scored a clean hit, Signiel could barely block Arnold's
attack with his longsword and got blown back. Although he managed to
regain his posture upon landing, Arnold was one step ahead again. Arnold
had already sprinted toward Siegniel with his greatsword raised overhead.
Signiel couldn't block this strike; he had lost his momentum. The victor of
this battle was Arnold.
Arnold was uninjured. So I guessed we could escape as long as he defeated
the Sword Emperor.
And yet, my naive expectations lasted less than a second—
「GUH!」
Arnold's victory was crushed by a snake who bit his right foot. Signiel's
sword slashed Arnold, who had unnaturally stopped, and Arnold fell face
first.
For a while after that, Signiel looked at Arnold, who was lying face down in
front of him. When he saw the snake that bit into Arnold's right foot, his
expression transformed into that of an enraged demon.
「ENZUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! Why did you disturb our sacred duel?」
He shouted at the grey-haired man with an enraged expression.
「We received an imperial order by His Majesty, the Emperor, himself to
work together. The princess might escape if you lose her. Well, the
possibility of that happening is quite low, but just in case. Your foolish pride
is a trivial matter compared to the success of this operation.」
「TRIVIAL? You bastard, how dare you mock my pride as a
swordsmaaaaaaaaaaan!」
Signiel's gaze didn't move from Enzu, the grey-haired man with a crew cut,
as he pointed his sword toward him.
「I have no intention to mock your pride, but don't think I will stay still
without retaliating if you attack me.」
Enzu cracked the fingers joints of his hands as he took a stance.
The black-robed men's attention shifted from us to the two of them. This
seemed my only chance to bring Arnold into the forest and use healing
magic on him.
（NOW!）
However, when I was about to run toward Arnold, someone pinned me
down from behind.
「You can't esca~pe.」
When I turned around, I saw one of Fracton's subordinates looking down at
me with a sadistic smile.
「L-LET GO OFF ME!!」
Anna's angry roar shook my eardrums. When I turned around to see her, I
saw an old, fat knight with an unshaved beard on top of her.
「Can we play around with this woman?」
When Enzu heard the extremely disgusting question of the old, fat knight
with an unshaven beard, he replied without even looking at the knight.
「Doesn't matter. Do as you like.」
「Ooi, he says it's okay. C'mon! It's first come first serve!」
「S-STOP IT!」
No matter how much I screamed, no one listened to me.
「Princess, please enjoy the moment when Anna becomes a woman.」
One of the fat knight's comrades seized Anna's arms as she struggled.
Then, the old, fat knight started to tear off Anna's armour.
「NO! STOP! LET GO OF ME!!!」
Anna was on the verge of crying.
「GET AWAY FROM ANNA! DON'T YOU KNOW SHAME!」
「Of course, we know. But you see, the loser must abide by the winner.
That's the rule of the war.」
The old, fat knight tore Anna's tunic, exposing her huge, proud twin hills in
the night sky.
「NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
!」
Anna's scream resounded in the vicinity.
Signiel sent a sidelong glance the moment Anna was about to get raped.
Then, he smacked his lips as he inserted his sword back into its sheath. He
walked toward the forest as if the old, fat knight and co's act disgusted him.
Seeing this, Enzu also relaxed his posture and signaled the black-robed
people with his eyes.
Several of the black-robed people walked in my direction.
This is too much! Even though Gilbert and I were supposed to share the
same blood of our parents, he went as far as selling me over to the empire.
As if that wasn't cruel enough, his subordinates wanted to rape the girl I
regarded as my little sister. Once I'm sent to the empire, I'm sure that these
lowlifes would continue their daily lives like nothing. No, they might even
get promotions to important posts from Gilbert due to this folly.
Even though they are about to rape Anna!
Even though they are about to sell me to the empire!
These lowlifes have turned into dangerous cancer for the Amelia
kingdom.
UNFORGIVABLE! All of them are unforgivable! These shameless
lowlifes, all of them should just die!
Oh god— no, even the devil is fine! Please protect Anna from these
lowlifes!!
「SOMEONE, PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE!!」
I screamed as loud as I could until my throat felt like it was about to burst.
Suddenly, the old, fat knight who was busy playing with Anna's glorious
twin hills rose in the air. No, to be exact, a figure clad in exotic black
clothes had grabbed the fat knight's head from behind and lifted him with
one arm. All I could see from my current position was this newcomer's
back and that this figure clad in exotic clothes was a black-haired man.
「GIH!! AAAARGH! GIGAGAGAGAGA!」
The fat knight's scream transformed into an anguished scream, then into an
indescribable scream. The next moment, I heard a loud popping sound, and
the skull of the fat knight got crushed like a fruit. Then, the headless corpse
lifelessly fell on the ground.
「Oh my! So fragile. As I expected, his toughness can't even be compared
to the weakest monster in the weakest dungeon. Well, I guess there's a great
difference between the strong and the weak in this world.」
Even though he had just killed a human, I couldn't feel any semblance of
repulsion coming from the black-haired man in exotic clothing, who had
just killed a human. It was as if what he crushed was just a mere fruit
instead of a human skull. Indifference toward killing, that was the only
thing I felt from him.
「H-HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」
The other knight who was holding onto Anna's arms screamed upon seeing
such a shocking scene,
「Shut up.」
The black-haired man swung his hand to get rid of the blood and flesh
sticking to his hand as he kicked the screaming knight right on his head.
And as expected, due to the kick, the knight's head exploded, sending a
spray of blood and white matter in the surrounding area.
Honestly, my train of thought couldn't catch up to this situation. Two
knights actually died from those seemingly simple attacks.
Moreover, even though they were rotten, those two knights, who had just
been killed like lowly insects, were quite skilled. If one spoke about
national power, the Amelia kingdom was undoubtedly one of the major
powerhouses. Our senior knights were one of the best in the world. Yet, two
of those knights died so easily like that…
The black-haired man looked around once. The moment I caught a glimpse
of his face, I felt like my chest was about to burst. Because, this blackhaired man was none other than the very person despised by many as
incompetent, Kai Heineman.