The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 253

Haa-

Midra let out a sigh as if his head hurt.

"Noona, what's the situation over there?"

"Wait a moment..."

Tafra closed her eyes and placed her hands on each of the trees in front of her.

"Umm, all five knight orders have entered the lord's castle in the domain. I don't know if they're really planning to attack in three days, but it seems certain that they have no intention of moving right now."

"Is that so?"

"Che, I'm sure they're planning to attack as soon as they finish their preparations in the lord's castle. The ten days they gave us was probably just the time it takes to gather the domain's forces and bring them over."

Bodra frowned like a thoroughly annoyed cat and said with irritation.

"Huh?"

At that moment, Tafra let out a small, surprised sound.

"A few kids who look like knights just came out of the lord's castle on horseback."

"What? Which domain?"

"All five of them."

Tafra, who had said that, tilted her head slightly to the side.

"But they don't seem to have any intention of fighting."

"What, so you're saying they're scouts? Alright, then I'll go right now and shoot their heads with an arrow..."

"Haa, that's not what I meant, so can you just stop for a moment?"

"U-Uh..."

Tafra, with a single cold glance, calmed down Bodra, who was about to run out with her bow, and then opened her mouth again.

"The reason I said they don't seem to have any intention of fighting is because all the kids coming now have a white flag stuck behind them."

"A white flag?"

"Surely they're not coming to say 'let's not fight' after starting a fight just a moment ago... what is it?"

At Bodra's words, Midra pondered for a moment and then said.

"Considering what they said a little while ago, it seems... they're coming to take the prisoners who surrendered from our village."

At Midra's words, Bodra's expression, which had been filled with curiosity, crumpled again.

"Ha! I don't know when they became so kind as to come all the way here. I wish all of them would get eaten by magical beasts on their way."

Midra, who had heard Bodra's heartfelt muttering, looked at her with eyes that said 'you're still the same'.

And in the midst of that, Tafra, who had been quietly lost in thought, carefully opened her mouth.

"Hey kids, what do you think is the reason the Church guys told us to surrender?"

"Huh? Isn't it obviously to take the villagers without fighting?"

"And they'd probably want to take our village with as little damage as possible."

In the remote region that had not yet been fully organized, the existence of a village that protected people from monsters and magical beasts was quite precious.

On top of that, the village they were in was a place with various geographical advantages, to the point that it had protected them since their forces were much smaller than now.

They had no particular power, so they had only been able to develop the village to this extent, but with the power and resources of the Church, it was entirely possible to turn this place into a fortress beyond a domain.

Since everyone present knew that, Midra's words carried considerable persuasiveness.

"That's persuasive, but for some reason, I feel like these guys are aiming for something a little different."

However, Tafra presented a slightly different opinion.

"Different, you say? What?"

"Well, if it's for that reason, it's a little strange that they're moving like this, as Bodra said."

Tafra said that and looked out the window.

"They could have postponed taking the prisoners until later, but they deployed personnel to secure the prisoners as soon as they got here."

Tafra said that and tilted her head slightly.

"Doesn't it seem a little too desperate?"

"...Now that you mention it? It certainly seems that way."

Bodra, who had been pondering for a moment, nodded slightly and said.

"Ah! Are those cowardly bastards planning to use the people they took to their side as hostages?"

"Umm... I think we should consider that possibility, but my thought was a little different."

Tafra, who had said that, turned her head slightly and glanced at the building used by the vigilante group beyond the window.

At that, Midra leaned his upper body forward slightly and said.

"Noona, do you perhaps think the Church moved because of those guys?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm not sure either. But I think we should at least consider that possibility."

Tafra said that and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"It's a hypothesis based purely on a hunch, so I can't say anything for sure, but in my opinion, the Church's sudden movement and the appearance of those three don't seem to be completely unrelated."

"The fact that it's not entirely impossible is scary."

"Umm, it certainly seems to make some sense if you think that they took the villagers and gave them ten days to investigate the information of those three."

With Bodra's words, they each fell into their own thoughts.

Then, a heavy silence naturally flowed in the room.

"I vote for fighting."

Among the three who were pondering, the first one to open his mouth was Midra.

"The reason?"

"In the first place, they're aiming for everything we have, so negotiation is impossible. And it's even hard to run away since they've already surrounded us in each domain."

Midra said that and let out a sigh-filled resolution.

"Then, of course, there's no other way but to fight."

"I also vote for fighting, like Midra oppa."

Following Midra, Bodra also stated her opinion.

"He seems to be a guy who has investigated us quite deeply, but we can't just let guys like that go."

All three of them were the illegitimate children of a certain count.

As their blue hair showed, the count they had as a father was the same, but their mothers were all different.

And that past was their Achilles' heel.

"Bodra, no matter how annoyed you are because of that, to make a choice like this for that reason..."

"It's not because of that. I don't care about that kind of thing anymore."

But that was an old story; now, they didn't care about their origins at all.

"What I want to say is that those guys deliberately provoked us. In other words, it means they're aiming for us."

Bodra clicked her tongue in annoyance and said.

"If the three of us are caught, we'll surely receive the most severe punishment among all punishments without any leniency and be worked like slaves. To avoid that, we have no choice but to fight and win."

The two who had stated their intentions, slowly looked at Tafra.

"Hoo, alright. Then I'll also choose to fight."

At that, Tafra also cast a vote for fighting, as if she had no choice.

However, even if the two hadn't chosen to fight, Tafra was planning to choose to fight.

Tafra's personality wasn't so kind as to let go of an enemy who was aiming for her, her family, and their village so easily.

"Haa, another incident. What do we do this time."

"I'll go and explain the situation to the vigilante kids."

"Then I'll also go and explain the situation to my disciple kids."

At Bodra and Tafra's words, Midra nodded.

"Yeah, ah, please keep it a secret from the villagers for now. Let's talk after we've organized our opinions a little."

"Yeah, got it."

"That certainly seems better."

Thus, they agreed to control the information for a while.

However, they did not know.

-Hmm, ten days...

That there was one being who had watched the entire situation from above, using the characteristic of not being detected by anyone in reverse.

-It should be enough of a stimulus for my subordinates.

Irehgue, who had muttered that, let out a laugh filled with the satisfaction of having heard something good and left the room.

The destination he was flying to was, of course, the room where the twins were waiting.

◎ ◎ ◎

-...Therefore, we also need to prepare for a fight.

Irehgue said, floating in the air, looking at Mio and Rwen who were kneeling in front of him.

The two, who had heard the entire situation through Irehgue, looked at each other for a moment.

Swoosh-

And Mio quietly raised her hand.

-What is it? If you have something to say, just say it.

"Master, I'm just curious, but do we really need to get involved in this fight?"

"I agree. Can't we just use the people here as bait and escape on our own?"

Rwen spat out the selfish words of using the villagers as bait and escaping in the confusion, and Mio, who heard it, nodded as if it were right.

In a normal situation, it would have been time to scold the two who had spat out such refreshingly trashy words, but Irehgue had no intention of scolding them for something like this.

Instead, he opened his mouth to find out the reason why they had thought that.

-What is it, are you scared?

At Irehgue's words, the two shook their heads.

"No, I just don't like the idea of having to fight for others."

"That's right. And from what I heard, it seems they're also suspicious of us."

The two made a cold judgment based on their own standards.

In the first place, the people here were all people they had met as enemies, and they hadn't had many conversations with them while focusing on their training for the past week.

Of course, the moments they had won in sparring or when they were cheered on by everyone felt good.

But that was not a reason to shed blood for them, was the two's thought.

Because the most important thing to them was their family right next to them.

Irehgue, who had noticed their thoughts, pondered for a moment and then let out a slight sigh, muttering to himself.

-Haa, this is his role, but since he's not here now, I have no choice but to step in.

Irehgue quietly remained silent with his eyes closed to review his thoughts for a moment.

The two looked at Irehgue with a puzzled expression.

Flash-

At that moment, Irehgue, at the same time as he opened his closed eyes, flapped the two wings on his shoulder blades and descended.

"Ugh!"

"Ah!"

At Irehgue's sudden action, the two were flustered and closed their eyes.

And when they opened their eyes again.

"...Master?"

"...Master-nim?"

Irehgue, who had always been about the size of a small dog, was now in a state where his head slightly touched the ceiling even though he was sitting and slightly hunched over, having increased the size of his body.

The two felt a new sense of weight they had never felt before from the elegant and brilliant appearance Irehgue was exuding, and felt their hearts pound.

-Hoooo...

At that moment, Irehgue lightly checked his body condition.

'As expected, as the size increases, the consumption of internal energy needed to constitute the body increases. If I hadn't made a heart with the [Blessing of Gaia], I wouldn't have even been able to try.'

It wasn't for no reason that Irehgue, who liked to show off and be praised, had been in that small form until now.

Irehgue's body was made of internal energy, and naturally, if he increased the size of his body, the consumption of internal energy would increase.

The reason Irehgue had maintained a small state was because he was worried that Lee Shin's internal energy would run out and he would not be able to maintain his form outside.

Honestly, Irehgue's action now was a little dangerous.

The amount of internal energy was now sufficient, but right now, Lee Shin was trying to reconstruct his body with the [Blessing of ■■■].

'I must end this as quickly as possible.'

With that thought, Irehgue lowered his head and looked down at the two.

Gulp-

In Mio and Rwen's eyes, a respect and awe that had not been there before was overflowing.

Seeing that, the corners of Irehgue's mouth slowly rose.

'It wouldn't be bad to be in this form sometimes.'

Swoosh- Swoosh-

Irehgue's enlarged tail cut through the air and swung from side to side.

(End of Chapter)