Volume 3 Chapter 27 Night Crier And The Vanished Wraiths
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Kian raced through the hills alongside Natra.
The atmosphere felt a bit off, so he suggested they have a race down the hilly path.
The winner would take 3 Silver Coins from the loser.
”So, you want to challenge me to a sprint?” Natra smirked confidently. In the end, though, her horse reached the finish line first──at the East End west street──before Kian could catch up.
He hadn’t planned to lose, not even for a moment, but he found himself defeated nonetheless.
”Hah, you were slow, Sir Kian.”
As Kian finally approached the town street along the cliff, where Robert had once been taken by Griffin, he saw Natra dismounting and grinning at him, her white teeth shining in the fading light.
It was nearly 8 in the evening, and the sky was painted with deep twilight hues.
Being nestled between cliffs and hills made nightfall come quickly, and even Natra’s cheerful face was becoming harder to see in the dimness.
(Though, thanks to my vampiric traits, I could see everything in vivid detail if I focused on it.)
Kian pulled his horse to a stop, letting out a sigh.
”I concede. Here, take your Silver Coins.”
”I’ll treat myself then! But if you’re not satisfied with the outcome, I’m happy to challenge you again as many times as you want!”
”Let’s not. I realized halfway through that racing against someone as light as you puts me at a disadvantage unless our horses are drastically different in ability. Even if I tried to outmaneuver you, you’re just as skilled with your horse.”
”Oh ho!”
”That cheeky smile of yours──looks like you’re back to your usual self. Well then, you might want to use those coins to buy yourself something sweet.”
”Hmph… Are you treating me like a child again?”
”Telling you to buy some sweets isn’t treating you like a child; that’s a huge leap in logic. Now go get yourself pickled cabbage or some stir-fried carrots and turnips with those Silver Coins.”
”My lord is still so mean. Why do you have to name all the vegetables I hate? This body only needs meat to be satisfied. Vegetables… I’ll eat them if I feel like it, that’s all.”
Natra said with a pout.
But if ordered to eat vegetables, she would obediently consume them without complaint, indicating that perhaps she wasn’t that averse to vegetables after all.
”The Nakash family seems to be full of picky eaters. Speaking of which, Sarah also loved meat and sugar────. ……Hey, Natra”
”What is it? I know, I’ll eat the vegetables. I get it.”
”No, it’s not that.”
She sidled up to Natra, who was straddling the horse.
It was Sarah he suddenly thought of.
For the past month, he had been so preoccupied with personal requests and self-improvement that he had completely forgotten, but the Nakash family had been stripped of their standing at last month’s meeting of the Twelve Divine Generals.
He had heard that Shajar was assassinated, so Sarah should be leading the Nakash family now.
But surprisingly, he hadn’t heard a single whisper about the state of the Nakash family since then.
”What’s become of the Nakash family now? They were definitely demoted by the Twelve Divine Generals and had their status stolen by some upstart house.”
”Now that you mention it, I haven’t deeply investigated their movements since then.”
Natra casually replied while stroking the horse’s back.
”After such a colossal blunder, not only the head of the house, Shajar, but all the retainers would either be killed or turned into slaves. That’s just how it is. Or rather, it’s me and Rufna, isn’t it? There’s no doubt it’s unrecoverable. Or is it just a matter of being demoted by the Twelve Divine Generals?”
”Is Sarah safe?”
”You see, it’s no surprise if the remaining retainers would want her absorbed into some house, to become a vessel for bearing strong children alongside her mother. After all, with the blood of the esteemed Nakash family, any mid-tier warrior clan would kill to have her, and even powerful merchant houses might reach out their hands in hopes of securing a child rich with Tachyonian cells. Plus, the women of our clan are said to generally have the looks men desire, so there would be no shortage of suitors.”
”You speak so calmly, yet she is your sister.”
”But to me, she is merely a stranger, known only through the information ‘Natra’ once possessed.”
Natra stated this matter-of-factly, with a straight face.
Kian remembered back to when Rufna was brainwashed and absorbed into their ranks, and he felt a discomfort welling up inside him like rising bread dough.
”…While Rufna was asleep, I’d occasionally worry about Shajar and Sarah. I thought I was just concerned for the house then,”
After Rufna had been put to sleep, there was an uproar in Châtillon Fortress.
The figures of Oswald and Owl, who should have been preparing for an enemy surprise attack, were nowhere to be seen.
(Considering that, it seemed natural to think that during my meeting with Shajar, his men and Oswald’s group were engaged in battle at the back mountains of Châtillon Fortress)
Up until now, he hadn’t properly confirmed any of this with Maribel, Oswald, or Rufna herself.
Could it be that Sarah had also come near the fortress at that time?
”Sir Kian, shall we enter East End for now? Or would you rather walk around the town and then head to the hideout in Eastern Forest?”
Ignoring Kian’s contemplation, Natra briskly inquired about their next move.
He started to reply, “For now, let’s head to the Eastern Forest and regroup with Rufna──” but before he could finish, he felt a small fluctuation of magic power from the direction of East End and clammed up.
Natra also reacted to the magic power, turning her face towards the front of the town road.
In the dimly lit center of the narrow road, a black teleportation gate suddenly opened without warning.
Rufna, still in her casual clothes, popped out of a tiny teleportation gate and immediately slammed it shut.
”Rufna!”
”Yo, Master. And welcome back, too, Milady.”
”Why did you use a gate? You could be spotted by the Adventurer’s Guild magicians, you know!”
Natra said with a stern look.
Rufna’s brown ears drooped a little.
”What choice did I have? It was an emergency. Besides, I only opened it for a Leap, and the distance was short. The spatial distortion was minimal. It’ll probably be fine.”
”Emergency…? What happened?”
Kian asked, and the dark elf nodded once.
”We were setting up a temporary base in the Eastern Forest, but then we were attacked by a swarm of ‘Spoon-Wings.’ I had to drive off the magicians, but I couldn’t afford to hold back. I’m guessing the noise and the flapping of wings alerted a nearby Adventurer party. So, I panicked and teleported here with these guys.”
She said, opening the mouth of the backpack on her back.
Then, a black haze, like the evening twilight, poured out and formed the shape of a gray mantis.
It was the research subjects, the Sword-Cain.
”Master, the east side is out, both the plains and the forest. Too many Adventurers. But the west side is all cliffs and hills, and there’s no space to keep them during the day… I mean, if we don’t go hunting in the eastern plains, we can’t possibly get enough meat for 30 adults. Skinny wild dogs won’t cut it, and if we feed them Ghoul meat, they’ll get sick.”
”I thought we could manage with just two of them… So, it’s difficult to raise them in the East End, huh?”
”──Please wait, Sir Kian. It’s easy to kill Milk and Walnut. But wouldn’t it be better to wait and see for a little longer?”
”But where will we keep them?”
”If we take them to just before the Dacia Plain, Adventurers rarely come. They’ll hunt for their own food.”
”Dacia!? That’s so far! Do you even realize how much distance there is between here and the northeastern part of Izerland, milady? Even if we get these guys delivered, it’s not like we can check in on Dacia all the time. It would defeat the purpose of keeping them for research in the first place, right?”
”Mmm…”
”You don’t want to kill them, do you, Natra?”
”Um… Well, I-I’m sorry, but I have no objections, my lord. If they’re going to be a nuisance, I’ll have them taken care of.”
”Sigh… That’s why I told you not to give names to test subjects!”
With an exasperated expression, Rufna muttered, but Kian shook his head and turned to Natra.
”Natra, if you don’t want to kill them, take them to Dacia and release them. They say there are plenty of Sword-Cains over there, so what difference would it make if there were 2 more?”
”No, that’s still inefficient. As Rufna said, it’s more reasonable for them to be used as materials here.”
”Enough about that, just take them afterward. But make sure you’re back by tomorrow evening. We have a quest in Châtillon waiting for us.”
”…! Thank you, my lord.”
”Master is so kind! Well, if milady says she’ll take responsibility for getting them to Dacia, I’ve got no complaints. There won’t be any Sword-Cains attacking people, and as long as there’s no damage, we won’t be tracked.”
Kian dismounted and walked toward Rufna, holding the reins in hand.
Natra followed closely behind.
”Oh no! I forgot to buy you a souvenir!”
”Ah, it’s fine, really, no worries about that.”
Rufna chuckled, then turned her gaze toward Natra.
”More importantly, it seems the lord of Châtillon has a personal request for you. Have you heard anything from milady?”
”Ah, I received the job from Guy at the fortress. The first request is for a gladiatorial match that takes place 5 days from today. After that, I’ll tackle the second job. If I sign the request form and submit it to the Guild tomorrow morning, I’ve heard that Guy will send a magician who’s free. We’ll use the teleportation gate that he’ll open for us to travel to Châtillon.”
”I see. That’s perfect timing then. If we’re keeping Sword-Cain close by, one of us──either me or the lady──would have to stay behind in East End. By the way, Master, about that personal request from the Lord of Châtillon concerning the ‘Night Crier’──I’ve got a feeling about it that I really don’t like. That ‘Night Crier’ might just be an incredibly tough foe.”
”What do you mean?”
Natra asked, gently stroking the horse’s cheek.
Rufna placed her hands on her hips.
Her dancer-like outfit, revealing and vibrant, accentuated her slender waist.
As she swept her silver side ponytail over her shoulder, she continued speaking.
”Well, you see. Back then, while I was with Shajar, Lady Sarah had another group under her command that ambushed Oswald. I haven’t looked into what happened afterward in detail, but if Oswald is still going strong, it probably means that ambush didn’t go as planned. So, the ‘Night Crier’ could very well be──”
”Are you suggesting it could be Sarah?”
Kian asked quietly.
Natra glanced between the two of them before she replied.
”At that time, Sir Kian’s familiar, the Night Wraith, managed to escape its control. Châtillon is a place where the grievances of the dead swirl, and I didn’t think much of it back then, but──”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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