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Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 11

And yet, they had more than their fair share of chances to run away with their lives. And since they took neither of these opportunities, that must mean that they are all prepared to face what was about to come.

But they also had an opportunity to escape. As long as it’s still there, be prepared.

(I will show you no mercy…)

Aishela swung her naginata back and forth, slashing into the midst of his enemy soldiers. With each swing, the body parts of the enemy soldiers were cut off and flew away in every direction. Fresh blood spilled onto the ground, and terrified screams filled the air.

Like that, Aishela ran through to the castle all the way to the back and secured the door she had left open.

All that’s left for her to do now is to clean up the castle of any potential stragglers.

「Is this the end of your work? 」

Just at that time, the figure of Lassic could be seen at the castle gate. He was at the head of his entourage of soldiers. Next to him was his contracted Mage Moreno with a rapier that had lots of decorations engraved onto it in his hand. But there was also one more person present with them: Natalia, the wife of Neman, one of Theo’s former subordinate Lords who died in the previous battle. She ruled over the estates of Neman and three neighboring villages in her late husband’s place, and was given a title by Lasik to match her newfound position. She also voluntarily chose to subordinate herself to Lassic.

According to what Aishela heard, Natalia is the daughter of a Baron, the title that originally belonged to Neman’s family. Apparently she married him when she was sixteen, and it is said that she did so out of pity for him, who was still single after reaching the age twenty-five. Naturally, it should be obvious that Natalia herself did not care about Neman himself at all. The two of them had only one son together who is going to turn 3 years old this year, and it seems that Natalia intends to hand over her title to her son as soon as that child grows up.

Although she is a woman, her swordsmanship is quite good, and she herself wanted to be treated no differently than a male Lord, and Lassic acknowledged that request of hers. That’s why he brought her to the battlefield along with him in the first place.

Aishela waved her hand at Lassic and the company and then joined them, after which the three of them calmly walked among the scattered corpses and pieces of human meat. The battle in the courtyard of the castle was already over, and the surrendered enemy soldiers were all gathered in the corner of it.

「It was a great performance. 」

Lasik gave her words of encouragement.

「To me that was no challenge at all. 」

Aishela answered with dissatisfaction in her voice.

「It has not been that long since your injury healed, right? Seeing how little time you had to recover, I would say that your display was reasonable enough. 」

「Maybe so, but sending strong opponents on their way to Valhalla is more up my alley than this, so with that said I will be leaving the rest to you. I feel hungry right now, so I will go treat myself to some Petr right now. 」

「Just make sure not to mess with the poor kid too much, would you? 」

「Do not ask for the impossible! 」

When Aishela answered that, she let out a snort similar to the one made by Captain Grak and leapt high into the air.

「What a weird woman… 」

Moreno let out a sigh as he saw Aishela off.

「You think so? She seems like a nice lass to me. 」

「Well yeah, but only as far as looks are concerned. 」

Moreno shrugged his shoulders at Lassic’s words.

「Besides, once this battle is over, the pacification of Selvis will be over as well, and you will finally become the King of Selvis as well, Lord Lassic. 」

「I will not call myself the King of Selvis. 」

Lasik smiled wryly.

「Why are you not going to do it? 」

「Because I am not going to stop at Selvis alone. 」

「Huh? But did you not say that you would be satisfied as long as you would become the ruler of a small country? 」

「That was my ambition at the beginning, but in order to help Theo, I need to have as much grasped in my hand as I can. And besides, since he is going to come back to Sistina to take control of it one day, then it would be good to have control over a country that has access to the sea, would you not agree? 」

「Are you talking about Falvis? 」

「Clovis as well. 」

Moreno let out a whistle at Lassic’s reply.

「If we unify these three kingdoms, then I will become that new country’s Great King. 」

「So that is what you are aiming for here, huh? 」

These were sudden news, but not surprising ones, if Moreno had to be honest.

「It is such a strange thing. It is as you said, the height of my ambitions should have been to rule just a small country, but now that I know that I am going to be doing it for his sake, I want to rule more territories and have as large of an army as possible.

「I do not know what is it that you like about him so much, but even if you are no longer satisfied with just a small country alone, I am still going to walk together with you. 」

「Even if my personal ambition is always going to be being one step ahead of him? 」

「So you want to say that your ambition is going to keep on growing to infinity? 」

「That is exactly right! 」

Lassic said with a voice that was filled with pride.

「Greedy, are we? 」

「And why should I not be? After all, life is like sailing the river upstream in a small boat, not going down a peaceful, quiet road. If you stop rowing for even a single moment, you are going to end up being swept away by the currents. 」

「I see. That is certainly one way to look at it. 」

Moreno nodded in admiration.

「But if you end up getting too greedy, you are going to end up bringing ruin upon yourself. 」

「Definitely. 」

Lassic laughed out loud, and Moreno laughed along with him. Natalia watched the two of them from a few steps away in silence.

(Lord Lassic… could this be the reason why you are still single?)

She whispered those words to herself in her mind.

* * *

Even after they entered the fortress and advanced through its corridors for a while, not a single fortress soldier came out to fight them. Apparently, the enemy soldiers were all concentrated on the castle walls and the courtyard.

「I can’t see a single member of the Nabir clan as well… 」

Lassic muttered while frowning.

「Maybe they all escaped through the back gate already? 」

Natalia frowned her slightly thick eyebrows as well.

「I hope so, but I have a bad feeling about this. There’s also the smell of blood in the air. 」

「Well, we came through that courtyard, so maybe it came from there with us as well? 」

「No, that stench is much stronger than what the dead in the courtyard could produce. 」

Lassic said clearly to Natalia.

「Is it really that strong…? 」

Natalia sighs. She felt like she walked in a pool of blood with pieces of flesh scattered about ever since they entered the courtyard, so it was all the same to her.

「What do you want to do then? Do you want to turn back? 」

Moreno asks Lasik.

「No way. What are we going to do abeout taking over the castle is the Lord decides not to go? 」

「Shall I go ahead and see what’s going on then? 」

Natalia offered.

「No, let’s keep going. There should be a throne room in the back of the castle. 」

On the left and right sides of the corridor were several small rooms, which were opened by soldiers one by one, but not a single soldier was hidden in any of them. And when they reached the end of the corridor and the double door that were there, Natalia pushed them open with her hand.

「This is…!!! 」

In an instant, all the blood was gone from Natalia’s face.