ESL Chapter 73

“It must have started over there by now.”

At Lanster’s words, spoken from inside the royal carriage, the emerald eyes beneath the hood of the figure seated across from him grew coldly still. It wasn’t that he doubted her abilities, but strangely, that madman weighed on his mind. People who acted so independently usually needed to be quite confident in their own skills to pull it off. Zender had also said that the man possessed remarkable ability and seemed to not have shown the full extent of it. Above all, something Lea had said to him before kept scratching at his nerves.

On the day she had said she wanted to take part in the surprise operation—the day she had silenced his objections with a single smile—he had asked her something as he walked her back to her room. He had asked whether she had noticed any weaknesses or anything strange about that madman. He needed that to be able to draw up a plan of attack. At that time, she had answered like this:

[Hmm… if there was anything strange…. I mentioned before that I stabbed that madman in the shoulder, right? At the time, the sword didn’t go in as deep as I expected. He clearly wasn’t wearing any protective gear, but it felt like something hard was blocking the way. Like I’d only stabbed through a shell.]

But she had soon smiled and added:

[I might have sensed it wrong. Ian’s life was in danger, so I was in a rush.]

She had said she might have sensed it wrong, but he thought differently. If she had felt it that way in that moment, then it was the truth. No matter how rushed she had been, a woman who had gone through countless real battles as a bounty hunter couldn’t have been mistaken. If anything, in that situation, she would have put even more force than usual into her strike in order to save Ian.

That was why he had assigned Jacques. The man who was nearly at the level of a Sword Master and was called a master of swordsmanship. And as a final safeguard, he had arranged for Lu to be sent. No one threw daggers as well as she did. And yet, strangely, his heart remained uneasy.

‘Perhaps he’s a monster beyond anything I’ve imagined…’

His eyes growing ever deeper and more sunken, he turned his head toward Lanster.

“Is everything on your end fully prepared?”

At Luciel’s question, Lanster grinned and gave an arrogant nod.

“Of course. You know who you’re talking to. Everyone’s already been positioned, and I’ve told them to move the moment the signal comes.”

“Well done.”

“Hey~ Aren’t you being a little too stingy with the compliments? You really should be thanking me for this one.”

Luciel watched Lanster as he grumbled. He was pretending not to know, but the truth was he did. That Lanster genuinely considered him a friend. Of course, there was also the fact that he despised his uncle and wanted to gain the strength of the House of Mihael, but beneath all of that lay an undeniable friendship.

“Once this matter is over… I will become your firm ally.”

“Right~ At least becoming an ally… Huh? An ally??”

Lanster suddenly doubted his own ears. Those words—ally—coming from the mouth of that Luciel. And with the modifier firm, no less. At the sight of Lanster having a minor earthquake of the pupils, Luciel gave a quiet snort and said,

“If it doesn’t suit you, I could become your firm enemy instead.”

“Huh.. Isn’t that a bit extreme! Who said it doesn’t suit me?? I’m obviously fine with it! You’re not going to say something different later, are you?”

“Well, if you don’t want to believe it, you don’t have to.”

“I believe it. I believe it. If I don’t believe you, who would I believe.”

At the sight of Lanster nodding his head repeatedly with his mouth hanging open in delight, the look in Luciel’s eyes softened. But when his gaze shifted to the window of the carriage, those emerald eyes had sunk into cold depths once more, as if none of that had just happened.

By now, they would have begun infiltrating the enemy’s hideout, with the Black Kavan at the lead. And behind them would be her…

Without realizing it, Luciel tightened his fist. Everything his uncle had done to him up until now were sins difficult to forgive, but even if all of them were added together, they could not compare to the sin of driving Lea into battle.

‘I will make you kneel without fail, Uncle.’

His emerald eyes gleaming with cold light, he slowly curled the corners of his mouth upward. It was a wicked smile wicked enough that Lanster, had he seen it, would have fled from a considerable distance.

****

Knock knock.

At the sound of knocking on the door, the man standing guard in front of it slid open the peephole on the iron door to check the visitor. There, he could see a woman in a hat, holding a tray piled high with bread in both hands. One side of her face was obscured by the hat, but the uncovered side was quite pretty.

“Hello there. A new bread shop just opened right across the way, and I brought some bread for you to try~”

The man hesitated for a moment at the woman’s voice, but when the scent of freshly baked bread drifted in through the peephole, he undid the lock on the iron door and opened it. It was also just the time when he was feeling a little hungry, and besides, what could a woman carrying bread possibly do? Still, just in case, he rested one hand on the hilt of his sword as he looked down at the woman. She then held out the tray of bread toward him. As he reflexively took the tray, the woman clasped her hands together and said with a charming air,

“Oh, thank you so much~ Do enjoy it, and please be sure to visit Serenade, the bread shop just out front~”

Serenade, was it. The man watched the woman’s retreating figure as she turned and walked away, thinking he ought to visit sometime, then closed the iron door again. Perhaps it was the savory smell of bread, but when he brought the tray to the living area, the others nearby began gathering there one by one.

“What kind of bread is it?”

To his companion’s question, sniffing curiously, the man set the tray on the table and said,

“Apparently a bread shop called Serenade just opened. Said she brought it for us to try.”

At his words, another companion picked up a piece of bread and said,

“Ah.. so that place across the way that looked like it was being set up—it’s a bread shop then. Hey, it’s fresh out of the oven, bet it’s good?”

His words were the trigger: the men gathered in the living area each picked up a piece of bread, chewing as they shuffled back to their respective posts. They were mercenaries. Guarding the hostages in the basement was the 6th Unit of the Mihael Knights, and the mercenaries had been hired by Cheor to serve as the first line of defense before the descent into the basement. And so, where knights might have been suspicious and refused to eat food of unknown origin, these men easily shoved it into their mouths. The result appeared shortly after.

“Urgh… get out FAST!!! I’m going to go!!!”

“The bread… was there p-poison… in the bread? Uuugh…”

The men one and all contorted their bodies and formed a queue in front of the restrooms. The building they were guarding was fairly spacious, but there were only two restrooms, and there were eight of them—so a state of restroom oversaturation had occurred.

“You… you bastard.. just you WAIT!!!! AAAARGH!”

A companion who shot a glare at the man who had brought the bread screamed and went running. The man who had brought the bread was standing in front of the restroom door waiting for whoever had gone in first to come out, but he was too far gone to respond to those words—his face had gone paper-white and he was trembling violently. Eventually, some of the mercenaries standing in the restroom queue could not hold on any longer, and just like the companion who had rushed out before them, they fled the building in search of a restroom. The iron door that had been firmly shut rattled as it swung loosely open, but not a single mercenary was in any state to pay attention to it.

“Uuugh… I’m dying.. why won’t it come out already!”

Banging on the restroom door his companion had gone into while writhing and squirming, the man was startled by a familiar voice and turned his head. Standing there was the woman who had brought the bread a short while before, still wearing her hat.

“Hmm~ The bread must have been quite delicious~”

At the woman’s coy voice, the man, unable even to make a sound from the effort of holding on, trembled violently and raised a finger, jabbing it at her accusingly. The words didn’t leave his mouth, but even a rough listen made it clear it was a threatening string of profanities along the lines of I’ll make you pay for this.

“My~ How frightening.”

The woman—no, Lu—opened her eyes wide and raised a hand to cover her mouth. Then she smirked and raised her hand, bringing it down in a quick, light strike to the neck of the man who couldn’t even think of resisting. Normally she would have kicked him in the stomach, but doing that now seemed like it would lead to consequences she’d rather not deal with.

“Nnngh….”

The man’s eyes rolled back as his heavy body slowly crumpled to the ground. At the same time, a terrible smell began emanating from him—one impossible to bear without covering one’s nose. Lu wrinkled her face and raised her hand to pinch her nose. Then she stepped back as if looking at something revolting and muttered,

“If I’d known the outcome would be the same, I should have just kicked him and sent him flying far away. Anyway, what do I do about this?”

Faced with a problem she hadn’t anticipated, Lu kept holding her nose as she nudged the collapsed man with her foot, grimacing. She needed to tie him up and confine him, but she didn’t want to touch him. And Fortre was dealing with the same dilemma. In the end, with no other choice, both of them covered their noses and mouths with cloth and, while the rest of the Black Kavan infiltrated the basement, they trussed up the fallen mercenaries and piled them in a secluded corner outside the building.

With the job done, Lu followed her companions who had gone ahead and descended into the basement. Fortre had to stay above to deal with the mercenaries who had left the building to use the restroom when they returned, so now alone, she quickened her steps.

The basement was in chaos. The Black Kavan were in the process of clearing a path to where the hostages were being held, and the knights who appeared to have been sent by Cheor were frantically blocking their way. Lu stood in a corner for a moment to assess the situation. With Zender as the focal point, three of them were pushing back the knights, and through the gaps, the knight called Ian and her companion Yuto were slipping in, staying out of the knights’ sight.

‘Oh my~ That man… is remarkable. They said he used to be a shadow—his skill is on par with Yuto… no, maybe even better. Ah! This isn’t the time for this.’

Lu, who had been marveling at Ian’s silent movements, recalled the other mission Zender had given her and pulled herself together. Looking at the situation, it seemed it wouldn’t be too difficult for the Black Kavan to secure the hostages.

‘In that case, I should follow that pretty young lady, as the captain said. But where do I go?’

As Lu was pondering which direction to go to follow Lea, a tremendous sound burst from the opposite side of where the knights and the Black Kavan were clashing, and the building shuddered slightly. It was the shockwave produced by sword energy clashing against sword energy. For a moment, every person in the basement froze. In particular, the eyes of Ian, who had been moving in concealment, flickered for an instant. But he clenched his teeth and refocused on his own mission.

“There.”

Lu was certain that the black-haired girl she needed to follow and watch over was somewhere in that direction. The moment she launched herself that way, the battle to rescue the hostages began again.