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What it Means to be a Mate – Part 03

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Translator: Kell

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“Well, everything went according to plan, except for this!”

Countless insects surged from all the windows of the tower, flying from all directions, quickly creating a huge mass of insects as tall as the tower itself. The swarm quickly went after Zero and the others.

I let out a sigh of relief as I crouched behind the building, watching the insects pass by.

“What’s going on?” Gemma pressed the blade of her axe against my neck, her body tense in my arms.

I looked at her. “I just saved you.”

“You think I—”

“Why do you think I scaled the tower and entered your room through the window? What did you think that red cloth was for? Everything was part of the plan, and the Librarian was in on it.”

I expected this reaction from her. I stood up and lowered Gemma’s body to the ground. She was hiding her body, feeling uncomfortable about her torn clothes, so I took off my cloak and put it on her.

I’m such a gentleman.

“Where’s your amor?” I asked.

“They’re still in the room. The clasps were snapped.”

“You can still use it then. Let’s go get it back. Gear is too valuable.”

“D-Don’t order me around, you foul Beastfallen!”

I shouldn’t have given her my cloak, I thought. Then again, she was the only one who didn’t know about the plan. I couldn’t expect her to thank the one who killed her father for saving her.

“Sir Mercenary! Lady Gemma!” A woman clad in black was running toward us, out of breath. “I’m glad you’re all right!”

I raised my hand at her. “We’re still not sure about that. If the witch fail, we’re all dead, and the demon will bring your sister back.”

Madia nodded, her expression tightening. “Yes, you’re right.”

“Thanks for the assist,” I said. “If you hadn’t distracted the Director, I wouldn’t have been able to bring the captain back unharmed.”

“Don’t mention it. If anything, I should have distracted the Director some more. I’m sorry you had to go through that, Lady Gemma. But thanks to you, we managed to trick the Director.”

Gemma could not comprehend the situation. She glanced at me and Madia. She wanted to ask something, but she did not know how, and she clicked her tongue in frustration.

So I decided to explain everything to her.

We had three clear objectives.

First: Free the humans trapped in the fort and bring them to Wenias.

Second: Protect the Knights Templar from the other demon.

Third: Free Madia and Mina from their contract with the demon.

Zero came up with a plan that addressed all three.

“The first step of the plan was to offer you to the demon,” I said. “We were gonna rescue you afterwards, of course. We didn’t tell you the plan because we didn’t want you to feel relaxed. It might make the demon suspicious.”

“I’m sorry, Lady Gemma. I wish I could have told you, but it was a gamble, and I wanted to increase the chances of success as much as I could.”

Gemma stumbled a few steps. “I-I was fully prepared to kill the demon, even if it meant dying as well.”

“Your courage and determination fooled the demon,” I said. “Librarian, the smoke signal, if you don’t mind.”

If the demon left the fort in pursuit of Zero, we would send up a smoke signal to let her know immediately.

“Done,” Madia said, pointing at the tower. It constantly spewed white ash, but this time a wisp of red smoke was rising up from its tip. “I threw some colored dye into the furnace.”

“Burns nice. It should be visible from the road.”

Madia nodded. “There’s nothing but plains around the area. We can warn people from far away of anything unusual. I’m sure Lady Zero will see it.”

“Are they going to be fine?” Gemma asked, looking up anxiously at the smoke rising into the sky. “The demon is going after the people heading for Wenias, isn’t it?” Why did you come save me? If you didn’t help me, you might have bought yourself a little more time!”

She was right. If we didn’t help the captain, it would have taken a little longer for the Director to realize that Mina had been taken. If Madia played her cards right, she could have reached Wenias too without being noticed.

“It had to find out,” I said. “The Director can control insects. Fighting it in the fort where there’s not much space is clearly unfavorable.”

So we had to lure the Director out of the fort.

It would have been nice if we could sneak up on the Director from behind, but we couldn’t do that. Simply knowing its name was not enough. If we stepped on a bug, the demon would notice us.

“What do you mean ‘fighting it’? Did you forget that if you kill the demon, this whole place will no longer be safe?!”

“Who said anything about killing? There’s plenty of ways to subdue it. Well, don’t worry about a thing. We have the most powerful witch on our side.”

“But—”

“I’m just as worried as you are, Lady Gemma,” Madia said. “My precious sister is with her.”

“I’m not worried about a thing, though,” I said.

If the witch who was about to take on a horde of demons to save the world was killed by a single demon, the world was doomed anyway.

Seeing my confidence, Madia relaxed a little. “You really trust her. I would expect nothing less from Lady Zero’s mate.”

I had grown tired of denying it.

Without saying a word, I retrieved Gemma’s gear and raced across the wasteland, carrying the slower Gemma and Madia.

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When they noticed a red wisp of smoke rising from the other side of the mountain, Zero and Barcel stopped in their tracks.

“The signal,” Zero said.

“I don’t think we actually needed it.” Barcel felt his skin crawl as he watched the black smoke—rather, a swarm of insects—flying toward them.

There would be chaos if the people noticed the approaching threat. They were already anxious as it is, traveling on foot toward Wenias.

Zero declared to make camp, and cast Etrach, constructing a huge temporary lodge. After illuminating the place up with Magic, the people cheered with joy, unaware of the fact that death was coming.

Leaving Zero alone on the roof of the Etrach, Barcel found a nearby tree and climbed it. On his pinky finger was a piece of Zero’s hair that acted as a talisman, hiding him from the demon.

“I hope this works,” Barcel muttered, staring at the three arrows on his hand. The arrowheads bore a creepy black pattern.

“Aim for the heart,” Zero said. “If you hit its heart, the arrow will surely penetrate it.”

“Damn it. A Knight Templar using witchcraft to defeat a demon?”

If he were to write that on his biography, he would be executed, and the book would go to the Forbidden Library immediately.

Taking a deep breath, Barcel nocked an arrow—an ordinary one—to his bow. As he squinted at the approaching insects, he felt something odd under his feet.

“Is the ground shaking?”

The ground was trembling. Insects, he surmised. Insects were gathering not only from the fort, but from all directions, wriggling on the ground and blanketing the sky like fumes from a volcanic eruption.

It was as if all the insects on the continent were gathering to this one spot.

In general, Beastfallen could only manipulate creatures within the range of its sight or voice. In this case, it seemed to be the former. Combine it with the demon’s ability to see the whole world and this was the result.

Streams of insects circling the sky blotted out the moon and stars, while those crawling on the ground swallowed the Etrach, closing in on Zero.

Barcel bit his lips. It was still too far away. Even if he squeezed the string to the limit, it would not reach the demon. But at this rate, Zero would be devoured by the insects.

Staring anxiously at Zero, Barcel noticed a soft smile touch her lips.

“She’s smiling?”

He felt a chill run down his spine. His fear of Zero, who could laugh in this situation, was stronger than his fear of the oncoming demon.

Still wearing a smile, Zero was swallowed whole by the swarm. If Zero died, the effect of the talisman would wear off. Mina and the rest of the people would then be brought back to the fort, and Gemma might become the demon’s mate.

Barcel swallowed hard. The demon was approaching with incredible speed. Soon it would be within reach. Unfortunately, the insects surrounding it prevented him from getting a clear shot.

He closed his eyes. Then he opened them again. He thought he heard Zero’s voice.

“An incantation.”

He could hear Zero chanting, her voice clear over the buzzing of the insects.

“Bag de wal fer du al. O’ serpent sleeping in the scorching heat. From the Cradle of Hellfire, come forth. Awaken and burn.”

A snake, Barcel thought. A blazing snake appeared out of nowhere and began to circle around Zero. All the insects that had gathered around her were burned by the flames and crumbled to ashes.

“Chapter of Harvest, Page Seven: Filam! Grant me power, for I am Zero!”

As soon as the incantation ended, the fiery serpent swelled up and spiraled through the air.

Countless insects were caught in its path. One by one they burned and fell. A powerful updraft followed, swallowing the rest that escaped the serpent’s initial onslaught.

The insects wrapped around the demon’s body were burned to ashes, tossing the demon into the air.

“Now, attendant!”

Barcel already had his bow at the ready. He fired. The arrow hit the demon’s shoulder and bounced off its hard exoskeleton—all according to plan.

The first arrow was an ordinary arrow that he fired to turn the demon’s chest toward him.

Taking a mental note of the arrow’s trajectory in the turbulent wind, Barcel nocked a second arrow, aimed at the demon’s heart, and fired. The insect swarm deflected it. The arrow plummeted to the ground, spinning.

Clicking his tongue, he immediately fired a third arrow. It flew straight and true, the zipping sound pleasant to Barcel’s ears.

He then fired one last arrow right behind the third one. He was determined not to miss, confident that he would never miss.

The two arrows followed almost the same path. If the leading arrow landed, the trailing arrow would certainly hit its target.

Unfortunately, the third arrow hit the insects and missed. But it served its purpose. It secured a path for the fourth arrow, which miraculously slipped through the gap between the swarm and pierced the demon’s heart—or at least, that’s what it looked like.

“What?!”

Barcel could not believe what he was seeing. The demon had a tough shell. The arrow would have definitely gotten stuck. Yet it pierced through the demon’s chest cleanly, pinning a disturbing lump of flesh to the ground.

It was exactly like Zero said. But he was still shocked.

Barcel stared at the hunk of flesh. It was a beating heart.

“What the hell just happened?!”

“Well done, attendant!” Zero said. “Now watch.” She made a drawing motion, and a bow and arrow of light appeared in her hand. As she released it, the arrow flew straight to the beating heart.

The demon let out a terrible scream. It crashed to the ground and rolled around for a long time, writhing and scratching its perforated chest.

The insects dispersed, as if they all came back to their senses, and dissipated like a black fog, leaving behind a motionless demon.

Barcel rushed over to check his prey. Even though he had been briefed beforehand, he still could not believe it.

“Wow.” Barcel let out a sigh of amazement. “The monster’s become human.”

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