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Volume 2 Chapter 4 Part 16

Irvine’s expression was also that of him enduring extreme pain right now.

「I am sorry, but right now your only options are to either put up with it or leave. If you decide to stay and end up dying, then you can always repent for the crime of having Arts engraved onto your bodies by offering your Chaos Cores to the Order of the Crest when you do die… 」

「Leave! We are going to leave! That is it!」

Aishela screamed and immediately leapt forward. Irvin also moved at high speed and jumped into the group of the undead, and the two Artists began the fierce battle against the residents of the village from a place where the light of Priscilla’s Crest could not reach them.

「Are you not going to fight together with them? 」

Milza asked while looking down on Theo.

「I can deal with one or two people, but if I were to jump into such a big number of people, I would be defeated immediately. 」

Theo said without sounding apologetic in the slightest.

「What is required of a good ruler is not the strength of the sword. I believe that having a strong conviction and leading the people to peace is the quality of a good ruler. 」

Siluca suddenly said to Milza.

「I also believe that having strong and firm convictions is necessary, but having a strong sword-arm and knowing how to use it is just as important, because no matter how wonderful of a ruler you might be to your subjects, if you lose the battle and lose your title and territory, it will be all over for you. And if the Lord dies, the battle is lost for the subjects. So I ask you, is there anything wrong with having a strong ruler? 」

「… I agree. There is nothing wrong with it. 」

Siluca had no choice but to admit that there Milza had a point with what he was saying, and that his arguments just now had outdone her. She was so focused on protecting Theo just now that she has been caught using the kind of logic that could only be described as unreasonable.

「I will do my best to become stronger. Because ust as Your Highness said, there are battles that a Lord simply cannot allow themselves to lose. 」

「Do you not want to win every battle you engage in? 」

Milza sneered.

(Is that the only reason why this damn prince wanted to come along with us to this battle?!)

Why did this prince come with him?)

Right now, Siluca felt nothing but anger towards Milza.

No matter what he might try to say, the fact is that he simply despises Theo and does not even try to fight seriously against the enemies that are coming at them. To put it bluntly, he is being a nuisance just by being here with them. If he was not one of Vilar’s guests right now, then Siluca would have forced him to get lost and leave them alone the moment they entered The Forest of Eternal Darkness.

「I… I can’t go on any… longer… 」

Just as Siluca was thinking that, she heard Priscilla’s voice weaken and she saw her staggering. Theo immediately supported her and made her sit on the spot. Apparently, she used up too much of her Crest’s power.

Knowing that the light that continued to harm them has gone out, the undead resumed their attack. Aishela and Irvin attracted quite a few of them onto themselves, but still three times as many of the ones that they dealt with slipped past them.

「Shock! 」

Siluca shouted as she threw lightning-based spells several times through the undead crowd.

Lightning flashed, white smoke and the smell of burning flesh filled the surroundings of the village, but even so the undead continued to approach Theo and the others without even flinching. At this rate, it seemed inevitable that they would close the distance between them and overrun them with sheer numbers alone, but then…

A wolf’s howl pierced through all the other sounds.

Then, from the forest behind them, the Werewolves in their human clothed forms rushed out from between the thick foliage one after another. They turned into their beastly forms in the blink of an eye and proceeded to engage the undead of the village.

(Phew, we are saved… )

Siluca placed her hand on her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

Before long, their allies arrived one after another, and the undead, realizing that they were now at a clear disadvantage, fled into the forest instead.

Eugen’s main force also appeared in the village before long.

「The village has been conquered. Let us move on to surround the castle! 」

Eugen gave the command, and the entire allied army cheered. Now that they have finally managed to get out of The Forest of Eternal Darkness, the morale of the soldiers was finally rising again.

But the real battle was just about to begin.

* * *

「There you are! There you are! 」

Yana looked down at the army approaching from the village and spotted that impudent Mage girl that she hated so much in the leading unit. She seemed to be ding fine, but she did no intend to keep it that way for long.

Yana fully concentrates on the convergence of the Chaos around her, and when she envisioned the magic that she wanted to cast, she raised her broom above her head and covered it in its entirety with red lightning.

「What is this? 」

Theo noticed a strange light shining on the tower. He stopped and looked carefully and saw that the figure of the Black Witch was there.

(What is she going to do?)

His gut feeling told him that he would need to employ the highest level of vigilance now.

「What’s wrong? 」

Siluca turns around when she notices that Theo has stopped moving forward. At that time, she saw the red light flying toward them with a long tail of energy behind it.

「Siluca! Get down!! 」

When Theo shouted, Siluca threw her body to the ground without hesitation, while Theo ran forward while brandishing his shield.

「Lord Theo! 」

Siluca knew that something that was fired was most likely aimed at her, and that Theo has ran forward in order to prevent it, but while he should be fine against most types of projectiles, then what is going to happen to him if the enemy fired a magic spell just now?

Siluca rolled on her back and spread out a magic barrier that could negate the effects of any magic, but she was skeptical as to how much and how effectively she could block with a barrier that was deployed as hastly as she did it right now.

Siluca saw a red broom that looked like a falling star approaching from the top of the tower. It easily penetrated Siluca’s magic barrier and hit Theo’s shield.

「Khh! 」

A tremendous impact was transmitted to Theo through the shield. The protective enchantment on his shield glowed, but it was quickly drowned out by the red light. However, the red light did not penetrate the shield and changed its trajectory and returned to the sky.

Theo grabbed his left arm and crouched in place.

「Are you okay? 」

Siluca got up and touched Theo’s arm.

「Uuu, ghhhh!!! 」

Theo’s face contorted in pain.

It turned out that his left arm’s bone was completely broken. His shoulder was also dislocated and his collarbone was broken.

「Putting aside Theo’s injury, I can’t forgive her for aiming at Siluca! 」

Aishela shouted and leapt to the top of the tower. It was quite tall, but she kicked the wall twice and reached the top of the tower in no time at all.

「Give me a break! 」

Yana felt a chill run down her spine as she saw a woman in silver scale armor kicking toward her against the walls of the castle. Only an Artist would be capable of doing such utterly inhuman things, and if there was one thing that she learned from her fight against the Werewolf Queen Clara, letting an Artist gel close to you was the last thing that you want.

Just then the broom returned to her Yana hurriedly mounted It and she soared into the sky, but once Aishela landed on top of the tower, she jumped into the air again and closed the distance between her and Yana, and she swung the naginata that she was holding in her hand.

Yana frantically lifted her leg to fend off her blade, but her calf was cut roughly, and Yana frowned from the pain that soon followed.

「The next time we meet, I will not show you any mercy! 」