novelraw Chapter 40 : Trap (2)
Chapter 40 : Trap (2)
Trap (2)
A brief moment of rest arrived at the spot where a bloody battle with monsters had only just ended.
The soldiers, having slain all the monsters, sat down where they stood, relieved simply to have survived.
But for most, survival alone was not enough. The majority of soldiers were on the brink of tears, desperately wishing to live.
"Ah... I want to go home."
Rejir was one of them.
He had cut down a few monsters using a sword imbued with aura, but he simply could not move his body any further.
The monsters from the demon realm had hides as tough as steel and their agility was monstrous.
Just defeating a few had left him severely drained of stamina.
What's more, fighting with only one hand made battle extremely inconvenient.
"I just wanted to rest in the infirmary for the rest of my life...."
Of course, faking illness and pretending to sleep did not work here.
Any soldier who failed to get up after a set time would have their head cut off immediately.
"Then you might as well rest forever."
Louis approached from behind, joking playfully.
"You—you bastard!!"
The moment he saw Louis, Rejir's veins bulged with anger.
Louis was practically the reason he'd been dragged into this place.
"Are you enjoying life?"
At Louis's question, Rejir felt even more faint.
"Do I look like someone who's enjoying life to you?!"
"At least I'm doing fine, aren't you?"
"Shut up! I'm getting out of here, just you watch!"
Seeing Louis, Rejir regained his lost motivation.
His drive was based on escaping from the 7th Legion, but unfortunately, there was no hope for that.
"Where would you even go, having been abandoned by your father?"
"Ah...."
Hearing those words, Rejir's eyes shook.
"Ugh...."
And then, bursting into tears, he pounded the ground with his fist.
Kadim had had two letters. Louis had shown them both to Rejir.
One was a request to eliminate Louis, and the other a request to eliminate Rejir.
The fact that the letter requesting his own removal was written by his father had been a traumatic shock.
"Damn it... you damn father!!"
Even remembering it brought a flood of extreme betrayal.
At that moment, Louis started singing quietly into Rejir's ear.
"Father, I realize it now~ How could you have lived like that~"
"Don't sing."
"Don't feel lonely anymore~ Now come with me~"
"I said stop singing!!"
It was a song sung by a popular singer in the world Louis came from.
For others, it might be a touching song, but to Rejir, it was practically a curse.
"You brat, have you forgotten who saved your life?"
Louis was also the one who saved him after he'd swallowed poison.
Originally, he'd almost been executed for attacking an ally, but Louis had pointed out his usefulness, so he was spared.
Although that usefulness had worn off, Rejir was still trying to fly under the radar.
"If your lifesaver wants to sing you a song, what's the problem?"
"...."
Dizzy, Rejir clutched his head and collapsed where he sat.
A rare moment of rest was turning into a session of pure torture.
"Young master."
At that moment, Rio approached Louis, carrying something.
"I have a request."
Rio's eyes were burning with enthusiasm as she held two wooden swords, handing one to Louis.
"Come with me."
Realizing her intention, Louis moved to a deserted spot.
****
Twelve days had passed since the stampede began.
Most of the Gigant Vulture's monsters had been wiped out, but there were still entire armies of monsters led by other bosses.
Paruzan Fortress was kept constantly busy holding them back.
There was no telling when the all-out war between monsters would finally end.
Whenever a fight broke out, they seemed to generate endless reinforcements to keep the battle going.
Recruiting massive armies of monsters was a trivial task for higher-rank monsters.
Just by emitting telepathy, they could make neighboring monsters follow them.
Could humans even possess such an ability?
Still, thanks to the disappearance of the Gigant Vulture, the odds of catastrophic disaster had dropped.
There were now no monsters left following that beast.
In reality, after that, the frequency of desperate tactics using soldiers as bait had plummeted.
"We'll be able to catch our breath for a while now."
Sitting inside the commander's tent, Kelian let out a sigh of relief.
Silia and Klein, who were sharing the same space, felt the same.
"I don't think any of us ever thought we'd have free time like this."
In the 7th Legion, where even the concept of leisure barely existed, being able to stretch out their legs and rest for even 24 hours in that hellish situation was unbelievable.
"Not even a single monster escaped."
As Silia said, not a single monster had broken through to the outside.
During such repeated monster waves, it would have been strange if even one hadn't slipped by.
Like trying to carry water in a basket, and not a single drop spills outside.
"Normally, that would be impossible. But have you forgotten who is currently at this fortress?"
At Kelian's words, Silia and Klein exchanged wry grins.
Had someone invented an automatic detection magitech device to instantly capture any monsters that leaked out?
Someone who could effortlessly perform what would otherwise be impossible was, surprisingly, right here in the fortress.
"Replacing Kadim with that boy was a wise decision."
After witnessing Louis's feats, Klein came to consider Kadim as unworthy.
Even Kadim, who'd accumulated the most rewards, was nothing compared to Louis.
Who could have guessed that such an extraordinary individual was among the boys who'd been dragged here?
Kelian was grateful for that miracle.
"Of course, he's also the root cause of this stampede."
When Silia pointed that out, both their expressions soured.
If only the Elite Lizard hadn't been killed, there'd have been no stampede.
Now, because of the stampede, much of the fortress's infrastructure had been half-destroyed by monster attacks.
"Now that you mention it, that's true. But it's not like we can punish him for it."
Was he the cause of the stampede? That alone would justify the soldier's summary execution.
However, this soldier—Louis—was now the very key to stabilizing the crisis.
Just like how Kadim's squad was given all sorts of privileges as the elites, this soldier was enjoying similar benefits.
"In the first place, it just wouldn't work, would it?"
The bigger problem was the torture spell.
Kelian and Klein had naturally become aware that sorcery had no effect on Louis.
It was almost comical.
A disruptive species, unchecked by any rule or restriction, had entered a unit that forced its soldiers to work like slaves.
The more they thought about it, the more they felt he was even more troublesome than the monsters.
"Are you sure it's really okay to keep quiet about this?"
A soldier who was immune to spells had appeared. There was no way the Empire would overlook it if word got out.
For humans, spells absolutely had to work. If they didn't, it meant the individual was something wearing the skin of a human—at best.
If word spread, both the Empire and the Holy Nation would begin to meddle with Louis.
"Aren't you ashamed that we, officers, are being led by a mere soldier?"
When Klein asked, a faint smile curved on Kelian's lips.
"What do we gain by reporting him? Do you think we'll get some kind of reward for it?"
"...."
If there was nothing to gain, then saying something would be pointless.
Klein quietly agreed, realizing Kelian was right.
"At best, they'd just rebuke us for not reporting sooner. That's the nature of the Empire these days. You know that as well as I do."
The Empire would never trust those who were little different from criminals.
Even if they informed the Holy Nation, the response would only be, 'May the blessing of God be with you,' and that would be that.
As that thought popped up, Kelian felt disgusted.
"I'll side with whoever keeps us alive. Pride? Shame? If I have to discard those to survive, that's the cheapest price to pay."
The one saving this fortress right now was Louis.
Which meant that, by extension, Louis was even saving Kelian.
"Unless—do you actually have any bad feelings toward him?"
"Do you really have to ask?"
Klein suddenly grimaced.
"I'm 33 this year. How do you expect me to tolerate that brat calling me 'Grandpa' all the time?!"
If Louis insisted on calling him that, it made sense.
Like Kelian, his face had aged far beyond his years.
"And what's with all this 'sponsor' and 'pharmacist' nonsense? That kid's insane."
Even calling torture spells those names was hard to get used to.
Wasn't there a saying about a single loach muddying the whole river?
He was beginning to worry that one oddball would make all the other soldiers start swaggering.
"That's why I'm looking forward to seeing you as deputy-commander. It's only been two years, but in a few more, I bet your face will be as worn out as ours."
With a dark glint in his eyes, Klein looked at Silia.
His expression was like someone trying to drag her down, so Silia frowned.
"I'll be waiting for that, deputy-commander."
"...."
Silia barely managed to stifle a curse and let out a heavy sigh.
"By the way, the reinforcements will arrive tomorrow. Are you sure about dividing the squads like this?"
They weren't just resting. This was a break taken to discuss the deployment of the reinforcements.
Kelian glanced over the deployment sheet that Silia had designed.
"The more troops, the better. I just don't know how many will survive."
Kelian seemed to care nothing for the lives of reinforcements.
That was because the incoming soldiers were the Bisted knights that Louis had demanded.
****
In the depths of the forest, the sound of swords clashing echoed.
Having survived the stampede, the soldiers now had enough respite for self-training.
Louis had accepted Rio's request for a spar.
Kaang!—
Rio blocked Louis's wooden sword, but couldn't withstand the force and was sent flying backward.
It was a feat in itself that she'd managed to hold onto her sword, considering Louis's superhuman strength.
Even though Louis was holding back and hadn't moved a single step, Rio stubbornly rose to her feet, determined to force Louis to budge.
If she didn't do so, she'd end up like Dimo.
She couldn't rely on anyone's help. That was something she had learned painfully in this stampede.
To achieve that, she had to become stronger. Responding to her desperate need for strength, her wooden sword began to glow red.
Clutching the sword, now infused with red aura, she kicked off the ground—instantly closing the gap to stand right before Louis.
Just as her sword strike, using her full strength, was about to hit Louis's neck, it suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
It was Rio who voiced the question. Normally, Louis would have blocked the strike, but this time he hadn't.
"The spar's over."
Louis answered calmly. His sudden decision to end the match took Rio by surprise.
Was it because her skill was inadequate?
Luckily, that was not the reason.
"From here on, it's real combat."
Louis handed a real sword to Rio. Right then, a scream rang out in the distance.
Rio dashed after Louis toward the source. When Louis saw how fast Rio was keeping up, he was inwardly impressed.
They arrived at a cliff. There they found several dead soldiers, and another—still alive—along with several mantis-type monsters.
"Aaaah!!"
A mantis monster's slash wounded the soldier's shoulder. The strike was laced with poison, causing him agonizing pain.
At that moment, the five mantis monsters were swept away by a sudden crimson whirlwind.
"Huh?"
The soldier was startled at the sight of the pillar of red light. And it was the girl, gripping a sword glowing crimson, who'd caused it.
"You're...?"
The sword in her hand looked just like his standard issue. It was clear she, too, was a soldier of Paruzan Fortress.
"Thanks for saving me!"
"...."
At his words, Rio hesitated a moment before replying.
"I'm sorry."
And with that, she swung her blade, beheading the soldier.
Looking down at the now headless corpse, Rio's expression grew pained.
"Did you do something wrong?"
"He was already poisoned. This is better than dying in agony."
Louis's question, asked deliberately after waiting, was met with a calm answer from Rio.
Then, looking at the corpses torn apart by the mantis monsters, she asked,
"Can I eat them?"
When Louis nodded, Rio scampered over to a corpse, bit into it, and drank something.
With every bite, her mouth became bloodier, and the body shriveled up into a mummy as if drained of everything.
"Thanks. Rest well."
Rio tossed the mummified corpse off the cliff.
Then, licking her lips as she eyed another body, Louis let out a sigh.
"So you've finally revealed your true self."
Her actions reminded Louis of an occupation he both missed and never wished to encounter again.