Volume 9 Chapter 31 Day One (Ahahaha, This Is Fun, So Much Fun!)
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Clarice and I rode hard for McGaref with four knights as our escort—but the Quvarian Empire’s relentless sabotage kept slowing us down.
”They’ve dropped another bridge,” I muttered. “Do we detour? Leave the horses, cross on foot, and pick up fresh mounts at the next supply point?”
”Yes,” one knight answered grimly. “The next station is some distance away. I’m afraid we’ll have to.”
The Former Seron Duchy, mostly flat farmland, was cut through with rivers and canals. In the shallows, we dismounted and led the horses, but the freezing water forced us to stop each time. On top of that, we kept running into skirmishers sent to harass us.
”They’re watching us,” I said. “Even when I use Enemy Detection, they scatter just far enough to stay out of reach. For every one I cut down, twenty more pop up. I’ve killed a lot of them, but they just keep coming.”
Even so, a moment’s carelessness could wound one of our knights. Though we pushed for speed, we’d already lost half a day. News from McGaref said the invasion hadn’t begun yet, so we pressed on, taking turns carrying Clarice behind us since she couldn’t ride alone.
The truth was, this interference came from a shadow unit under the Bureau of Internal Affairs—half rogue operation, half vengeance. Many of their comrades had been slaughtered by me, Asakura Chinatsu, during negotiations with Princess Sheryl, and they weren’t about to forgive it. They turned their hatred into traps, ambushes, and assassins, even sending revenants conjured by the Witch of the Dead Arm, Almaria, to strike us in our sleep.
The hundreds of lives lost weren’t in vain. Clarice and I ended up caught squarely in the net cast by Keirald’s Third Division.
* * *
We realized too late—just as McGaref’s walls finally came into sight.
”Stop,” I ordered, slowing my horse.
”What is it, Chinatsu-sama?” one knight asked.
”We’re surrounded. Classic formation work. Whoever set this up knows their stuff.”
I activated Enemy Detection and swept the area. Keirald’s Third Division had received direct orders to kill Clarice. They had predicted the range of my detection skill and timed their movements perfectly, throwing their net around us the moment we emerged from the northern labyrinth. It was flawless. A textbook trap.
”They’re closing from behind too,” I said.
The knights blanched. “Thousands, Chinatsu-sama. Just the ones we can see…”
A tide of ghost soldiers slithered from the low ground, pressing in with suffocating force. For a moment, death felt close enough to touch. But instead of despair, I found myself grinning.
”Heh. Like Okehazama [T/N: a famous battle where a small force defeated a much larger one]. Except this time, we’re the ones absurdly outnumbered.”
”Do we break through?”
”Of course. No other choice. Clarice, conserve your strength—use your Defensive Barrier only on us two. As for the rest of you…” I glanced at the knights. “Sorry, but you’ll have to guard your own hides as best you can.”
”Yes, Chinatsu-sama.”
Clarice nodded, conjuring a faint barrier around us while the ghosts pressed closer from all sides. I drew Chisame from my magic bag, stroked the blade against my cheek, and whispered to her.
”Chisame, I’ll feed you plenty of lives today. Fight with me, all the way through this death trap, okay?”
”The first wave is coming!” a knight cried.
And so began the battle that would etch my name into legend.
* * *
Keirald sat back, smug. “See, Rakw? Strategy. That’s how Quvar fights. We crush with numbers.”
”You’re cruel, Keirald-sama.”
”Call it clever. Even if their guards are skilled, the stronger they are, the faster they’ll burn out. Potions won’t save them—they won’t get a chance to drink. The barrier will collapse once their killing slows. Rocks, arrows, spears—sooner or later, they’ll be pincushions.”
”I’d rather see you win in single combat,” Rakw teased, perched on his knee.
”And if I lost?” He chuckled bitterly. “Word is that girl’s ranked thirteenth. If she cut me down, what then?”
”You were ninety-seventh when I died, remember?”
”Don’t remind me. Ranks are a fool’s brag anyway. And if I go, you vanish with me.”
”I know. But this time, I’ll die at your side.”
She traced his cheek with gentle fingers—the lover he’d once lost, now reborn as a ghost. He had never married, never spoken of grief, but the truth was written all over him.
”Then I’ll settle for a cunning Keirald-sama,” she said softly.
”You never change.”
”And you love that about me.”
”I do.”
They passed the time in sweet words, waiting for Clarice and me to fall. But the hours dragged, and no good news came.
”She’s tougher than I thought,” Keirald muttered. “Shall we go see for ourselves?”
”Yes,” Rakw said with a hungry gleam. “I want to watch that pretty witch pierced full of holes. It was how I died, after all.”
”…Forgive me.”
”Don’t. I was glad to die for you.”
She leaned in for a kiss, smiling.
”You’re still handsome, Keirald-sama. A little older than the man I remember, maybe…”
”Died at thirty-five. Seems ghosts keep the age they fell.”
”All the same. You look like the hero of a tale. Every court maiden adored you.”
”Never got a love letter.”
”That’s because I burned them all.”
”You—what?”
She only laughed, spinning away in circles like a girl.
”This time, let’s live long. Drink deep of magic power, kill enough to keep existing. Together.”
”…Yes. Let’s.”
They walked to the front. From the hilltop, the scene below stunned them both.
”By the gods…” Keirald whispered.
”She’s a demon princess,” Rakw breathed.
* * *
We were pushing forward, step by bloody step. Ghost-stones rained behind me, dissolving back into the labyrinth. I cut, and cut, and cut again. Each swing of Chisame tore down another revenant. The knights shielded Clarice as we pressed on. My breath burned, but still I swung, laughing.
* * *
”How many?” Keirald demanded.
”Over a thousand slain,” a kneeling revenant officer reported.
”She’s flinging slashes with every draw of that blade… no, holding back even. That’s not just skill—it’s monstrous. And she still hasn’t run dry of magic?”
The revenants kept charging me without pause, relentless and fearless, focused on my death. Clarice’s barrier flickered under the storm.
”No time to drink potions,” Keirald growled.
”I figured it out,” Rakw said. “She isn’t using real skills. Just Weapon Enhancement.”
Keirald’s eyes went wide. “Weapon Enhancement? That worthless little trick? And she’s doing this?”
He stared at me as if I were some alien thing. But I only laughed, Chisame flashing.
”Ahahaha! This is fun—so much fun!”
My voice carried across the field, sharp and terrible.
”She’s enjoying this,” Keirald whispered.
”Yes. Listen to that laugh,” Rakw said.
”Yours isn’t much better,” he shot back. But even he looked shaken. “We’ve been saddled with a monster.”
”No doubt. That blade, her martial arts—it’s a perfect union,” Rakw murmured.
”Unlike my Golden Strong Power or Berhardt’s Sword Emperor, she fights on nothing but honed technique…”
Keirald trailed off, still disbelieving, as I butchered revenant after revenant. Then I glanced up at him, tapped Chisame against my shoulder, and beckoned.
”She’s provoking me,” he muttered. “Still has strength to spare.”
”Don’t,” Rakw warned. “One swing and your head is gone. If you fall, I’ll follow right after.”
”I know… Not yet. Let her weaken first.”
He turned to his officers.
”Keep pressing. Sacrifices don’t matter. Throw in casters. Ignore friendly fire. Stones, spears, arrows—saturate them. Drain Clarice too.”
”Keirald-sama,” Rakw purred, “you really are the most wonderful coward. When we finally mount her head, let’s set it on the finest spear we have, so everyone can admire how brave she looked at the end.”
The assault redoubled. Even after a thousand corpses, nine thousand remained. The hopeless war of attrition had only just begun.
Notes:
• Quvarian Empire – Ruling kingdom. Harsh world, restricted freedom.
• McGaref – Fortress city, adventurer hub.
• Clarice – The ‘Witch of Abundance’ from Lesta Kingdom.
• Chinatsu – White Wall — Black hair, B-cup. Adventurous, masochistic, Takumi’s first slave & lover. Master of Asakura-ryu Iaijutsu, wields cursed sword Chisame (blood-powered). 12th-ranked fighter, close to Hikari. First appears in v1c1 Prologue.
• Sheryl – Second Princess of the Quvarian Empire, a striking beauty with red hair. Initially appears as a diplomatic envoy, but she is a reformer within the empire, seeking to atone for Quvar’s past betrayals, particularly the destruction of the Northern Kingdom. Sheryl is highly intelligent and politically savvy, using her position to gather secrets and undermine the empire’s plans to destroy McGaref. She is also a slave to Takumi, bound by enslavement magic, and tasked with sowing chaos within Quvar. Despite her circumstances, she maintains a sense of duty and hopes to bring about change. First appears in v6c26.
• Keirald – Once a commander in the northern wars, now a spectral soldier bound by a magic stone. Massive build, armored in living muscle. His voice thunders like iron against shield. Relationship – Loyal general to the First Emperor. Reminder: -His existence is sustained by the magic stone embedded in his armor. First appearance in v9c8.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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