Miltram’s words were brutally clear.
“Very soon, all sorts of urgent debt collections will come pouring into your sister’s company! Will Perkus Manor be safe? No, it won’t be. And not just that, your family and your close friends’ territories will all be affected!”
As she said this, Miltram pounded her chest, as if to express her frustration. Unable to contain her anger, she kicked the imperial princess several more times.
The princess merely coughed and shrunk back. With each lengthening of Miltram’s words, despair filled her gray eyes.
“…And yet, will you save her? I’ll give you one last chance. Close your eyes right now and turn back. Then, we’ll pretend this never happened.”
Droplets fell from the princess’s eyes.
It seemed she too thought my chances of saving her were slim.
Despite all her sacrifices, no one recognized her.
It might already be too late to save the princess. From Miltram’s words, it seemed she had made an irreversible choice.
The princess had suffered greatly all this time.
Hadn’t every human she met expressed hostility?
Moreover, that malice was not directed solely at me. My precious ones had also been on the brink of pain and injury, and to protect them, my hands had been drenched in more blood.
Looking back, what I had exchanged with the princess was nothing but resentment.
A sigh escaped my lips involuntarily. The strength drained from my arm that gripped the sword’s hilt.
The eyes of the lady knight, who had been closely observing my demeanor, grew grim. The princess was clearly shedding tears, expecting nothing at all.
“…I see.”
It was a mere utterance.
However, Miltram seemed to have been waiting for those words, smiling broadly.
With a sigh, I loosened my grip on the sword’s hilt. And slowly, I began to raise both hands. As if to indicate I had no intention of resisting.
The lady knight, who had barely been able to hold her head up, let it fall.
The princess exhaled a hazy breath, and Miltram’s grotesque smile deepened.
The woman opened her mouth, seductively.
“I knew you would understand. Now, it’s time to—”
And in the next moment.
With a snap, one of Miltram’s arms was severed once again.
Miltram couldn’t even react.
The woman’s eyes blankly traced her own neck.
A silver trajectory was passing through that space.
Blood erupted forth.
The hand axe, wedged in the ground, returned and severed one of Miltram’s arms.
From that sudden blow, a fragmented question slipped out of Miltram’s lips.
“…Wh-what?”
I was not so foolish as to miss that opportunity.
My body, seizing the hand axe, propelled itself from the ground in an instant.
There wasn’t even a hint of wind as my hand axe fell upon Miltram.
It was a rapid onslaught. Miltram didn’t look like she had regained her wits yet.
However, she wasn’t an easy opponent either.
The woman immediately twisted her body with force. Her arm rotated at an impossible angle, groping her own figure.
The drawn dagger and the axe clashed.
With a thunderous shockwave, dust erupted around us. Miltram stumbled backward, desperately trying to fend off the successive strikes of the hand axe.
But my arsenal wasn’t limited to just the hand axe.
As my other hand grazed my waist, yet another beam of light shot forth.
Miltram, who had barely been able to respond to me, could not handle another bladed attack while losing one arm.
With blood and water, Miltram’s remaining arm fell away.
Miltram, looking resigned, sent her body rolling along the ground.
At that moment, distance formed between Miltram, the princess, and the lady knight.
Miltram’s severed arm bubbled and boiled, recovering at a terrifying speed.
On that bubbling mass, magical threads were already entwined.
This meant that the advantage of surprise would be lost.
It was fine. My goal was simply to separate Miltram, the princess, and the lady knight.
I quietly attached the hand axe back to my waist.
Miltram, seeing me do this, bellowed in desperation.
“Are you insane, Ian Fercurus?! You would still try to save that brat after being treated like that?!”
At those words, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
I would have saved her even if she weren’t the princess, but Miltram was making a critical mistake.
“Just because I was treated poorly doesn’t mean you’re not a scumbag.”
The image of the orphanage still etched in my mind.
When I recalled the faces of the children in the Flesh Seed, begging to be killed, my insides boiled with fury.
There was no sign of respect for life in that human. Transforming living beings into monsters to use as bombs, even her abnormal recovery must be a result of such modifications.
Such a person was attempting to do something with the princess’s eyes.
It was clear that it would not help the world in the slightest. The path I had walked was not so easily swayed by her sugary words.
To me, it was the most natural thing to think, yet Miltram’s expression grew even more sinister.
For a moment, as she ground her teeth, she whispered.
“…It seems a punishment is necessary.”
“I just came back from punishing your subordinates above… So now, it’s your turn.”
No further conversation was necessary.
I charged the ground again, and as Miltram’s body spun, magical threads rose up.
The writhing, blue threads swayed as if to strike me. It was a technique I had never seen before, and I hesitated briefly.
The answer was ultimately one.
I just needed to create an opening.
Right after making that judgment, my arm immediately threw the hand axe.
Tearing through the air, the hand axe flew with fierce momentum. Miltram immediately leaned her body, evading the hand axe, but that wasn’t the end.
Another blow, twisting it to get closer.
Miltram’s expression suggested she might retort, as she leaned back. The force applied to the magical threads that had been clinging to me weakened.
That was the opportunity.
I cut the magical threads with my sword, as if swatting away vines.
Nothing now blocked the space between Miltram and me. But just as I caught up to her, the woman’s arm bent at a grotesque angle.
A gleaming blade came into view.
A poisoned needle.
After battling Neoris, I had learned one thing: poison must always be avoided, a very practical lesson.
Especially since I was facing an opponent with full power. The chance of misjudging the opponent’s abilities was extremely low, and yet, if they were actively utilizing poison, it was all the more dangerous.
If it even grazed me, I would be finished.
With that judgment made, my knee buckled. My sword glided smoothly, slicing through Miltram’s thigh.
The knee of the woman, her muscle severed, crumpled weakly.
As we faced each other, dirt particles flowed beneath us. I smirked slightly.
“…Hello.”
In an instant, with a loud smack, my fist struck the side of Miltram’s face powerfully.
Since it wasn’t a strike from a stable stance, it lacked a bit of power.
But it was enough to bring the frail woman’s body crashing down.
I attempted to mount her, but seeing the swaying poisoned needle in her hand, I reconsidered.
If I happened to graze it, I would be the one to suffer.
I grasped the sword hilt that I had left free for punching.
Suddenly, a pale hand shot forth. In response, I twisted the blade.
Blood erupted forth, and a sound of despair slipped from Miltram’s lips.
“…Huh.”
It didn’t seem like pain as much as irritation that things weren’t going according to her wishes.
It appeared Miltram was either incapable of feeling pain or extraordinarily insensitive.
I engraved that information in my mind as I sprang up to seize the hand axe planted in the ground.
At the same time, Miltram plunged her legs firmly into the ground, rising without any elasticity.
Like wet cotton expanding and becoming rigid.
The woman smiled, letting magical threads dangle.
“At last, it’s over.”
Upon hearing those words, my eyes momentarily scanned the surroundings.
There were many fallen knights. But beyond that, the only thing that stood out was the oddly spreading magical threads toward me.
Was it bravado? That thought crossed my mind first.
However, as I tried to look at Miltram, I had to rectify my thoughts.
Following the ecstatic gaze of the woman, I spotted the body of a man among the magical threads that served as the fuse.
It was swelling grotesquely.
And that position was right next to me.
“Such a fuck…”
Before I could let out an expletive, the world flipped pure white.
My vision flashed bright.
Then hearing faded, and touch became muddled. My body, already worn from accumulated injuries, protested against its limits.
Even so, I tried to rise.
Had it not been for the poisoned needle piercing through both my shoulders, I would have stood up.
Miltram laughed as if affirming her victory.
Since I couldn’t lose, I barely managed to lift my head and return a smile.
I thought to myself.
Crazy woman, I should have left one corner of my heart trusting you.
My eyes fleetingly glanced at the potion pouch. That potion pouch, half-empty, spoke volumes about the strength of the effects already circulating through my body.
And yet, I felt as if I might die. Once from the explosion, once from my arm, and the wounds were too deep.
In such circumstances, I had allowed another fatal blow.
My mind began to go hazy. Within that fuzzy consciousness, memories briefly submerged beneath a white wave.
Yes, this dream.
It would be a dream I would never forget.
The world had shifted fundamentally.
