Chapter 162

Meeting

When Katya shouted loudly, I immediately ran outside the lodging, but my body stiffened on the spot.

I wondered what she meant by an attack, but there were far more of them than I had expected.

It wasn’t just that there were many of them—the state of their armaments and the quality of their movements were considerable as well. It was obvious at a glance that they were trained personnel.

And the moment I stepped out of the room, all attention sharply focused on me, making it abundantly clear what their objective was.

“There!”

With that shout, something flew toward me with a sharp whoosh—

Even so, perhaps the training I had built up while being torn apart and killed by Meyer hadn’t been in vain. I managed to duck at the very last moment and avoid it.

Still, my specs, without being enhanced by various skills, were at best just slightly above average. It was fundamentally difficult for me to respond smoothly to sudden situations like this the way other people could.

The result was inevitable—a slash wound sliding across my shoulder.

“…….”

I let out a small sigh inwardly and looked at the blood dripping steadily from my shoulder.

It was a short spear that had flown in with quite a sharp edge. At least it didn’t feel like it had lodged somewhere and caused the entire muscle to necrotize, which was a relief.

By ordinary standards, it was an injury somewhere between minor and serious, but to me, it wasn’t particularly worth worrying about.

“Ah, I’m fine—”

That was the intention I had fully loaded into the words I was about to say.

But my mouth shut abruptly.

……Because even a fool could tell that something unusual was flowing through the atmosphere around us.

Noel, Katya, and Milene—

They were staring at me with wide eyes.

It wasn’t the look of shock they wore whenever I committed some absurd stunt as usual. All their gazes were fixed on my shoulder, where blood was dripping from the wound.

“…….”

Huh.

I quietly looked around, trying to interpret this atmosphere.

So.

‘……Are they angry?’

It didn’t take long for that word to come to mind.

In fact—

—……

Before long, a thick killing intent, so dense it felt like frost-laden fury, began to flow from those around me.

It was to the point that the masked attackers unconsciously stopped moving as the terrifying killing intent burst forth.

Katya, Noel—and though to a lesser degree, Milene as well—were revealing hostility on a completely different level from earlier, when they hadn’t truly intended to fight with full seriousness…….

“……Everyone.”

Still in a drunken state, hiccupping, Noel cracked her neck with a sharp twist.

Light attire, I supposed. She wore no proper combat gear, just her everyday clothes as they were.

……And yet, despite being dead drunk in that state, she exuded a chilling aura that made the spine of anyone watching freeze.

“Abandon any polite thoughts of leaving peacefully.”

……A punch line befitting someone who was drunk.

While I blankly had that thought,

Noel’s figure began to move like lightning.

▣

Thinking about it, despite going through all sorts of crises, I had rarely ever been ambushed in the middle of the night.

Even when I went through all kinds of incidents in the Empire, and even after crossing over to the Holy Crown Kingdom and getting entangled in countless affairs, no one had attacked me in such a classic manner.

It probably also played a significant role that there hadn’t really been many who were particularly interested in taking my head itself.

And, in truth.

If I thought about it a bit more,

It was quite clear why that phenomenon had occurred.

At the very least, the ones who had fallen upon me now were reflecting on that point more than enough.

“…….”

First, a scream.

Second, an explosion.

Third, my own groan.

If one were to organize the auditory information reaching my ears, it would probably be in that order.

‘……How am I supposed to clean this up?’

That was the first thought that struck me as the scene before my eyes embedded itself into my vision.

A pillar of flame soared high into the sky, as if tearing apart even the late-night heavens.

“…….”

It was obvious who had ignited it. I blankly stared at Katya, who stood right in the center of that storm of flames.

It was clear she was flinching repeatedly, likely finding it difficult to endure inside that inferno due to sensory overload. But more than that, the vivid rage on her face, like that of an evil spirit, seemed to devour even such pain entirely.

“Hey.”

“Yes, unni.”

“Add to it. You can do it, right?”

And as if that weren’t enough, she even synchronized with Milene to further amplify the pillar of fire.

Milene’s divine power mixed into the pure white pillar of holy flame that Katya had raised. Darkening, then soon mutating into gray, a storm of gray flames pierced through the building’s ceiling and raged in all directions.

-!!

-!!!!!!

The air wailed as if being torn apart, and even more striking were the human screams that rang out loudly enough to drown out that sound.

“Don’t kill us, don’t kil—!”

Members of the Tribal Alliance who had come outside to check the situation recoiled in shock and hurried back inside, making it hard for my voice to carry, but I still shouted at the top of my lungs so that Katya could hear me somehow.

No matter what, this was a foreign country. In a situation where we didn’t even know what these bastards were entangled in or why they had attacked, wiping them all out carried far too much risk.

And besides, not killing anyone suited my own disposition better. I wouldn’t have to feel uneasy lying down to sleep later.

“I know. You don’t like it when someone dies.”

Thankfully, Katya clearly intended to respect my wishes.

“I’ll adjust it to the point where they’ll beg to be killed.”

“…….”

……I retract that statement.

It didn’t seem like something I could call fortunate without reservation.

The clothes of the attackers caught in the black flame storm were torn to shreds, and their skin began to boil.

They looked as though they might die of shock at any moment, but at the very least, Katya seemed determined to keep her word about not killing them. It was clear that no one was actually having their breath cut off in the midst of it.

“—Retreat.”

The moment he saw that sight, the one who appeared to be commanding the assault team issued a short order to those around him.

It was obvious he calmly accepted that directly opposing monsters of this level wasn’t something one did while sane.

But what this man had forgotten was—

There was one more monster on our side comparable to Katya.

“So—”

The commander’s leg flew off as he tried to speak.

Quite literally, it separated from his body and went flying, severed cleanly.

Because someone had kicked it from behind with all their strength.

Noel, still flushed up to the bridge of her nose like a middle-aged man who had been drinking heavily at a tavern, her eyes unfocused and still hiccupping—

In that exact state, she radiated a killing intent sharp enough to make one’s body hair stand on end, and retrieved the leg she had just kicked away.

“I told you to abandon any thoughts of leaving peacefully long ago.”

“……!!!”

As the commander collapsed without even managing to scream, the surrounding men drew their weapons all at once and charged at Noel.

But they were no match. It was like a wolf dropped among a flock of sheep.

It was a confrontation between a vast majority of heavily armed, trained personnel and a single knight in indoor slippers and bare hands.

Bones snapped, bodies shattered, and grotesque screams and shrieks flew in all directions.

It was a scene filled with brutality that did not fall behind even Katya, who had generated a massive flame storm large enough to blow away the building…….

“…….”

“It’s all right, Mr. Aiden. You don’t have to worry.”

As if she noticed I was staring at her, Noel turned her gaze toward me and gave me a bright smile.

Even if one put it generously, wearing that expression while splattered head to toe in blood was nothing short of terrifying……

“I don’t think these people will all die.”

“…….”

“Yes. They won’t die.”

With those words, the battle—one that was nearly a slaughter—continued.

To the point that I, watching it quietly, was left speechless.

‘……Once again.’

It truly drove home what kind of people I was usually surrounded by.

Anyone else witnessing this scene would probably be thinking something similar.

“……Hm.”

Milene, who had been observing the scene quietly, stroked her chin.

A man who could move this level of power so easily, just by standing still…….

‘……I’ll have to try harder.’

As for exactly in what way she needed to try harder, it seemed better not to voice that out loud here.

▣

“……The Great Chieftain has taken an interest.”

With a deeply furrowed brow, Rania blew out smoke and responded flatly.

It was news she had just received from Cretin, but it wasn’t something she could listen to with unreserved joy.

‘The Great Chieftain of the Plains…….’

He wasn’t someone who showed himself often.

No one found his presence unfamiliar since he always attended the regular meetings, but his basic stance had always been one of noninterference toward each tribe.

The fact that he had expressed his opinion at all on a matter likely to spark conflict like this was, in itself, unusual.

“……There’s nothing we can do about that?”

As she pondered, Cretin, looking at the cigarette smoke Rania exhaled, snapped irritably.

Unlike Rania’s calm demeanor, Cretin was sharp-tempered in everything.

“I’ll die if I don’t smoke this, Cretin.”

“…….”

“You know that.”

Even she, however, seemed unable to refute Rania’s faintly smiling remark, merely turning her head away.

Rania shrugged and slid the pipe back into her waistband.

……Well.

It was closely tied to Cretin herself—who was the reason Rania smoked in the first place—and there didn’t seem to be any need for the sisters to bring that up right now.

“With the Harvest Festival coming up, I understand the chieftains becoming sensitive…… but this is still peculiar.”

“……About that, Rania.”

Cretin, as if holding something back, finally opened her mouth with visible effort.

“What’s coming this time isn’t just the Harvest Festival. Even we priestesses need to be a little tense—”

She was about to continue the explanation, but her mouth snapped shut.

Someone had kicked the door open without knocking.

It was Noel, face flushed and hiccupping.

……On her back, she was carrying the body of a man whose leg had been severed.

“…….”

“…….”

While the priestess sisters were left speechless, Noel opened her mouth.

“Ah, excuse me.”

“…….”

“Where can I find the man called the Great Chieftain?”

……The very fact that she spoke while shouldering a man bleeding profusely made it abundantly clear that she had no intention whatsoever of having a polite conversation.