With each step I took, blood-red paint left its mark.
Splattered blood and flesh formed a strange harmony across the once-white walls. The unpleasant stench of blood poked at my nose and whispered to me.
Stop it now.
I wanted to stop too.
But what could I do?
The monsters that rushed endlessly at me had bloodshot eyes. I could feel the thick moisture in their heated breaths.
This was not a scene for women.
It was more akin to the behavior of monsters.
“My, my sense… the smell…!”
The woman who screamed like that had her eyes rolled back to the point where only the whites were visible.
The retinue of vampires who crawled like beasts suddenly sprang up. It was a leap so elastic it reminded one of a feline predator, but it fell short of subduing a warrior who had reached the level of a High Expert.
The result was obvious.
The hilt of my sword struck the woman’s temple with a thud.
The blunt end of the hilt served as an excellent alternative to a blunt weapon. The white teeth flew through the air, predicting the woman’s future as she was struck.
The body of the collapsing retinue trembled and then finally fainted.
I clicked my tongue at the sight.
“What’s that smell…?”
What kind of smell could cause all the vampires in the building to be in such a frenzy?
Should I shower three times a day from now on?
At that moment, as I crushed the approaching vampires mechanically, a trembling voice tickled my ear.
“Sir, Ian…!”
I turned my head to find the pale-faced princess hanging limply at my side.
I tried my best to provide a stable ride.
But her face looked like she would vomit at any moment, leaving me no choice but to tilt my head in confusion.
The princess was stammering out words.
“It keeps splattering on my face, blood and something sticky…!”
“Oh, you mean the marrow.”
There was no response. Instead, a hiccup followed.
It was unavoidable that blood and marrow splattered during battle. Still, since the princess was a comrade who had crossed the front lines with me, I thought she wouldn’t be so queasy. That assumption was a mistake.
She was indeed a girl raised in privilege.
I admitted that I had no consideration and, as a gesture of atonement, I briefly sheathed my sword.
Then I rummaged through my pockets and wiped her face with a handkerchief I found.
At last, the mix of blood and marrow smeared across the princess’s cheek along with the squishy texture.
“Ugh, kyaa! Please, please stop!”
“Just a little more and it’ll be done…”
“Please stop!”
In the end, I could not break the stubbornness of the princess, who was screaming with a tearful face.
Could the princess reject my goodwill?
Her stomach was too weak. As we would be walking together in the future, I thought it would be troublesome if it remained like this, when another sound buzzed in my ear.
“Wh-what is it… please stop! Kyaaaa! Someone save me!”
I clicked my tongue and grabbed my hand axe.
It was time to do what I always did.
The flying axe created an opening as it soared and then veered at the end of the corridor.
Soon, a dull noise echoed far away.
It was the sound of a skull breaking.
The axe seemed to return to its path, flying back into my hand. I directed one question at the princess, who was still shaking and contemplating whether to touch her own face.
“Can you locate people’s positions with those ‘eyes’?”
“Y-yes?”
But the princess was still out of her mind.
I clicked my tongue internally and added more explanation.
“There are many women trapped in this building, not only vampires but also those who disappeared overnight. I was wondering if you could distinguish between vampires and ordinary humans.”
“The emotional density of the vampires is too strong for that! Right now, my vision is still blurry… Eek?!”
It was then.
The princess’s body jolted like a fish caught on a line. From her eyes, a faint fear oozed out as if she had been electrocuted.
Even Shi-en showed such a sensitive reaction.
Naturally, I could sense the source of that reaction in my mind. Still, the reason I could remain calmer than the princess was that I had known this would happen.
A long sigh escaped my lips.
“…It’s already too late.”
“Sir Ian… something is… outside…”
I wanted to save as many people as possible.
It seemed that the elder’s patience was reaching its limit. After all, even his grandniece was trapped inside.
Rather, I should have been grateful that he had waited this long.
I carried the princess in a princess carry and said, “We are escaping.”
“What? Sir Ian, this is the fifth floor… Kyaaaaa!”
With a crash, my kick caused one side of the wall to collapse, revealing the twilight sky. Without hesitation, I leaped into the air to start the descent at sunset.
Gravity’s guidance was always perfect.
In a straight line, I landed firmly on the ground.
The princess was on the verge of fainting now. She had undergone a day marked by blood, flesh, and marrow, and had just experienced an overwhelming influx of energy and an unexpected fall. She even had a faint scratch on her skin, likely caused by debris when I broke the wall.
I doubt a dragon’s bloodline had experienced such a taxing day.
Unless, of course, it was something that had happened at the homecoming ceremony.
I carefully set Shi-en down so she could faint comfortably. Then I quietly shifted my gaze.
At the end stood a girl.
She wasn’t holding a sword or anything. Instead, her stance with her arms crossed as she looked up at me radiated no hostility.
But the moment I met her blue eyes, I was flooded with the sensation of blades covering the ground I was standing on. I held my breath, and with each exhale, I feared that the air could tear my lungs apart, causing cold sweat to flow freely.
All this from just one little girl.
She was commanding the world.
The swordsman, with an unsatisfied expression, asked, “Are you satisfied now?”
I instinctively sensed that this answer would determine much.
I opened my mouth urgently, unlike usual.
“Not yet… not yet.”
“It seems all the filth that can crawl out has come out.”
“There are still innocent students inside.”
Hmm, the girl redirected her indifferent gaze back towards the building.
It was a place where screams and roars were blending in real-time. The term ‘chaos’ could not have fit better.
Had the Imperial Intelligence Department agents already completed their evacuation?
While I pressed down various questions, I decided to do my best to sway the heart of this battle-ready individual.
“Also, the interrogation isn’t over yet.”
“Are you intending to have tea with those monsters?”
“My friend has been kidnapped.”
That was a plea akin to a supplication.
I had not yet found Celin. If there was any possibility of finding my childhood friend who might be undergoing something dreadful right now, I wanted to grasp onto anything.
“And also, among them might be a friend of my precious person…”
“Do you believe those things can turn back into humans?”
The sharp counterargument was delivered with a gesture.
I had to clamp my mouth shut and remain silent for a moment.
Can they go back?
Honestly, there was little hope for that. Even ‘Senior Elsi,’ who had conducted related research, had not given a positive answer.
But if I said so, Lady Lupeisia…
Emma would be sad.
So, I had no choice but to resort to hasty affirmations.
“I will make it happen.”
“By what means?”
“By any means necessary…”
“Tsk, tsk… so naive.”
With a click of her tongue, the swordsman shook her head in disapproval.
To an outside observer, it would seem that an immature girl was being demanding, but knowing that the essence of her being was ‘the swordsman’ put me on high alert.
Once, she had been a legendary warrior who had toppled a mountain alongside the saint of the Holy Kingdom.
Now that she had reached the level of High Expert, I understood. That rumor was no exaggeration or metaphor.
The girl in front of me, bound by her small frame, was a monster capable of erasing a mountain from the map if she wished.
“Is this how you’ve managed to endure until now? Believing things would somehow work out, eventually seeing the path ahead… I once had a time like that too.”
“Then, won’t you trust me just this once?”
“Only after you’ve lost something most precious will you realize…”
The voice of the swordsman carried an unusual loneliness.
Once again, she reiterated to me.
“It’s not just me. The saint of the Holy Kingdom, the great witch of the Great Forest, are the same. Those who refuse to abandon anything will ultimately lose what is most precious.”
I had heard similar words before.
From ‘me’ who came from the future, and also from the great witch.
Taking advantage of my silence, the swordsman sighed and slowly raised her hand.
“…Do as I say, kid. I’m advising you for your benefit.”
Just before the swordsman’s hand executed the sentence, the words sprang forth from my mouth unexpectedly.
“You’ll help me!”
The moment I blurted it out, the swordsman’s face contorted.
“You said you’ll help, right?”
“So?”
“Then, please help quietly.”
Caught off guard by my determination, the swordsman hesitated for a moment.
So I spoke even more firmly.
“It’s my affair. The one the great witch asked first was me.”
From hearing the conversation between the swordsman and the great witch, I realized something.
The swordsman had surprisingly weak persuasive skills.
In addition, if I pressed hard, she often relented. Perhaps due to her noble upbringing, she developed a disposition that didn’t concern itself with others’ affairs.
Or maybe it was her nature.
In any case, I spoke again in a strong tone.
“Am I wrong?”
At that, a sigh escaped from the lips of the hesitating girl.
“Ugh…”
Got it.
I could feel my expression brighten instantly. It was still just a possibility, but it was a chance to learn about Celin’s whereabouts.
At that moment, out of the blue, she said, “Anyway, this is annoying.”
With a simple gesture, a sound resembling “hoit” echoed.
It was just a playful gesture on the girl’s part, but the aftermath it caused was overwhelmingly destructive.
A slash.
In an instant, a solid line crossed the world. By the time I turned back in a daze, it was already too late.
The building was collapsing in its entirety.
As I watched the stone structure slide down diagonally, I couldn’t hold back the curse that rose so naturally.
“Hey, you… crazy old man!!!”
I immediately charged forward and grabbed the swordsman’s collar. The petite girl had to dangle helplessly in the air, sporting a nonchalant expression.
“Is this how you, as the Imperial swordsman, treat the citizens of the Empire so brutally?!”
“N-no, wait… stop shaking… ugh, why is this body so small?!”
As the swordsman struggled to reach the ground, visibly annoyed, it was a limit of her physical form.
At that moment, I sensed a presence yawning and rubbing its eyes somewhere.
It was the princess, who had briefly lost consciousness.
“Yawn… Sir Ian… Surely, our grandfather has come already…?”
Thus, the princess was faced with a bizarre sight.
The building collapsing due to the swordsman’s gesture, the girl being shaken by the collar, and me, who had called her ‘the swordsman.’
A moment of silence descended over the clearing.
I unconsciously thought of Senior Elsi and shut my eyes tightly.
‘This is a disaster…’
For some reason, I missed Senior Elsi today.
