Volume 4 - CH 28

Act 4-28: Prediction

North of Babel, 1st area of 【Death Metropolis of Flower】

The bald-headed man unleashed a fierce downward swing. And yet, the blonde-haired girl easily parried that swing as if it was a mere branch of willow. The cute girl managed to fend off the greatsword with ease. Any greenhorn who saw their battle would think that the bald-headed man was dominating the battle. But, the one who always seized the initiative was the blonde-haired girl, Lyla.

「DAMMIT! WHY CAN’T I LAND A HIT!」

Despite him berating like that, the bald-headed man-Mad Hound- Understood the very reason why this happen. It was an absolute gap between their strength. As much as he refused to believe, when it comes to combat experience, talent, literally everything, he was inferior to the girl called Lyla.

And finally, Mad Hound’s curved sword got flicked away by Lyla’s sword, thrown in the air, and fell to the ground.

「This is the end!」

Mad Hound could only grit his teeth in frustration when the tip of Lyla’s long sword was pushed to his neck but,

「Yeah right.」

He smiled as he said those words.

「Seriously, I can’t believe that you lost to a brat like her!」

A petite man wearing a green robe and the same coloured hunting cap appeared from within the woods, dragging Somni with him.

Mad Hound didn’t say anything back and just seized the blade of the long sword that was pointed to his neck,

「You’re indeed stronger than me. But, Victory is――」

He sent a kick with his right foot toward Lyla’s abdomen.

Seeing Lyla was trying to rebuild her stance as fast as possible despite being blown back by Mad Hound’s kick, the latter used that chance to roll on the ground and picked up his curved sword and then swung up his sword as he rushed toward Lyla,

「MINE!」

And exclaimed his victory as he swung up his curved sword with all his might. Lyla who failed to ward off the power of that swing got sent flying, drawing a parabola in midair, and fell to the ground. But ――

「Now, the table has been turned around. Throw away your sword if you care about that Young Master’s life over there.」

Now, it was the Mad Hound’s blade that was pointed to Lyla’s neck.

「GUH!」

Lyla could only grit her teeth in frustration as she threw away her long sword.

Mad Hound’s face was warped in madness,

「Properly speaking, I don’t have any interest in brats like you but, a strong woman is another matter. I’ll make a special offer to you, become my woman.」

「My apologies but, I refuse!」

「KUHAHAHA!! INTERESTING! THAT MAKE ME MORE AND MORE INTERESTED IN YOU!!」

Mad Hound then took out something like a choker from his pocket with his left hand.

「This is a cursed tool for slaves. You won’t be able to go against me in my entire life once you wore this choker.」

「!!!」

Lyla took a step back as if she tried to escape but, she was easily stopped by the tip of the curved sword before her.

「Don’t worry. You’ll be treated well for your entire life as my slave!」

When Mad Hound was trying to install the choker in his left hand to Lyla’s neck, Mad Hound’s left wrist got seized by a man with long black hair that appeared out of nowhere.

「Skull, you bas*tard, what are you trying to do!?」

Mad Hound brought forth his enraged face to the man with long black hair called Skull.

「Take that girl too.」

「Ah!? Don’t screw with me, this girl doesn’t have anything to do with this commission you know!?」

「Indeed. But, it seems that this girl, Lyla Hellner is the acquaintance of Kai Heineman. We can use her as bait to lure him in.」

The moment the name Kai Heineman came out of Skull’s lips, the lustful look on Mad Hound’s face vanished immediately as he clicked his tongue, and reluctantly tucked in the choker back into his pocket.

「KAI!? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO KAI!!?」

And yet, Lyla suddenly panicked upon hearing that name.

「He seems to act disrespectful toward Prince Gilbert. And going to be disposed of.」

「I won’t le――」

Before Lyla managed to finish her exclamation, Skull tapped the nape of her neck, and just like that, she got knocked out and fell like a puppet with its strings cut off

「Leave her to me. You don’t mind this suggestion, right?」

「Hah! Have it your way! But, the remuneration is――」

「I know, I’ll keep my words about dividing the remuneration equally between the three of us. That’s what you want right? While we’re at it, I’ll deliver those two boys too, both of you can continue to look for Kai Heineman and guide him to the designated place.」

「I know without you ordering us!」

Mad Hound shouted those words before he spat on the ground and vanished into the woods again.

The man with the green robe shrugged his shoulder, placed Somni to the ground and then followed after Mad Hound.

A while after their figure vanished in the forest,

『WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, LUCAS!?』

A black skeleton wearing a black robe appeared as he asked such a question.

「Yeah, I know that you’ve enough reason to be pissed off by this, Deimos.」

The man with long black hair called Skull transformed into the figure of a middle-aged man as he replying with to Deimos with a friendly tone, unlike the cold, emotionless tone that he used when he spoke to Mad Hound and co.

『YOU KNOW!? THEN FOR WHAT REASON DID YOU GO AGAINST YOUR ORDER!? LYLA-SAMA IS THAT PERSONAGE’S ACQUAINTANCE! AND HE ORDERED ME TO PROTECT HER! EVEN IF IT’S GIRIMEKHALA-SAMA’S ORDER, I ABSOLUTELY HAVE NO IDEA WHY I’VE TO HOLD BACK AND WATCH THOSE TRASHES FROM SHADOW!』

Deimos’ jaw made a clattering sound as an enraged voice resounded from his very soul.

「Because they can’t harm Lyla-sama. Even if they can, we won’t allow it.」

『It’s to prevent real harm! That Personage had ordered me to protect Lyla-sama! He showed his trust in me! To me who committed an extremely disrespectful attitude to him! And what you did is akin to destroying that trust! You have an explanation for this, right!?』

His eye sockets shone with ominous crimson light as by fingers bone made a creaking noise, by the next moment, his body had already been covered with a crimson aura.

His action was akin to a dog who bare his fangs toward Lucas. Depending on the answer, Deimos was prepared to fight Lucas.

「Because it’s something that we’ve to do.」

『STOP SPEAKING IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY! JUST TELL ME THE SIMPLE ANSWER!』

「Wait, are you really have no idea about this? Though this matter seems to be the order from that aforementioned idiot prince, the central church and part of Babel’s big shot is riding on this plan.」

『So!? They’re just puny humans. We can literally wipe them off from existence with a wave of our hand!』

「Yeah, no doubt about it. If it really is involving pure humans that’s it, we can literally assassinate them with ease. But, it seems that the existence whose strength could rival Girimekhala-sama and co was backing them up. In short――」

『The moment they pointed their blade on our master, it’ll be equal to declaring war on us. Is that what you want to say?』

「Yeah, I’ve no idea where are they right now. Nonetheless, they actually tried to kill That Personage! Not to mention that all they do are sending in such weaklings. This is an ultimate sin, you should know how we feel at this point, right!?」

The thick blood vessels throbbed repeatedly on Lucas’ forehead as he spoke. Which is followed by a resentful voice at the end.

『OI, Lucas!』

「Sure enough, that stupid prince! Even if we managed to lead him by the nose so easily, it doesn’t mean that we’ll forgive him for disrespecting OUR GOD! Even more so when they’re still my relative! Yeah, I’ve got enough of them since a really long time ago!」

Seeing Lucas declared so with light of madness dwelling in his eyes,

『Calm down, Lucas!』

Deimos regained his composure and even tried to calm Lucas who seemed about to explode instead.

Hearing that reminder, Lucas shook his head a few times and,

「My apologies, the topic seems to be derailed a little bit. Anyhow, the die has been cast, they’ve already declared war on us.」

He declared so to Deimos.

『But, there’s no reason to involve That Personage Or Lyla-sama in that conflict, right!?』

「No need to involve That Personage you say? Deimos, you’ve been misunderstanding the situation.」

『What do you mean?』

Seeing Deimos asked with a doubtful voice,

「Girimekhala-sama had told me about this before. The train of thought of Our Supreme Ruler isn’t something that bugs like us can understand. The moment I heard that it felt like a bolt running into my spine. My faith is still, too shallow.」

Lucas joined his hands together as he gave such a lecture to Deimos with an entranced look on his face.

『In short, all of this is actually part of That Personage’s grand plan and those idiots don’t even realize that they’re actually dancing on his palm?』

「Yeah, including their foolish plan to use Lyla-sama as a bait to lure That Personage.」

『If that’s the case, why did he entrust the protection of Lyla-sama to me?』

「Naturally, because he needs a proper justification to eliminate those fools. The matter of you being the bodyguard for Lyla-sama is insurance to prevent irregular situations.

That Personage is truly terrifying. Even the fact that us, moving behind the scene to drag out all those cowards whose only ability is manipulating people from behind the scene is also part of his plan!」

Lucas who spread his arms spoke triumphantly of his nonexistence achievement like a minstrel singing a heroic song. [TL: At this point in time, Kai’s subordinates had already misunderstood their master’s attention.]

Naturally, Kai had no idea about all of these, it was just make-believe of his subordinate. And yet, Deimos ended up clattering nonstop upon hearing Lucas’ revelation-like speech,

『S-So that’s what he means!』

He nodded a few times as he spoke like an enlightened person.

Yes. Due to the effort of the fanatics who regarded him as an omniscient being, in their eyes, Kai’s strategy was actually going in accordance with his plan without a hitch.

「The plan is progressing smoothly. That Personage will personally exterminate those fools, so restrain yourself for now. Doing so will increase our morale and enable us to sweep all of those fools at once. What a supreme plan! Just imagining it alone is enough to send a chill into my spine!」

『So my indignation is also within That Personage’s expectation. Sure enough, if that’s really the case, then all of these nonsensical chains of events made sense to me now. Then, is that mean I can go and fight with my all in the case that Lyla-sama’s life is in danger!?』

「Yeah, you can.」

""

Lucas nodded and then snapped his fingers. Suddenly, the area around them was surrounded by black flame, and the figure of Egg that lost his right arm appeared. A few seconds later, the black flame transformed into the shape of a person.

「Please take this child to the evacuation shelter.」

The humanoid figure who wore black hats and black clothes took Egg on their shoulder and ran toward the plaza.

And then, another black flame turned into a humanoid figure and then transformed into the figure of Egg who had lost his right arm.

『What are you trying to do with those dolls?』

「Naturally, to verify those trashes.」

『Lucas, you’ve been corrupted way too much by the fanatics you know?』

Upon hearing Deimos’ muttered so with a slightly dumbfounded voice, Lucas…

「Yeah, I might’ve been dyed in their colour.」

Shook his head lightly with a madman-like smile on his face. The next moment, his body was enveloped by black flame and transformed into the figure of a swordsman with long black hair.

「Well, let’s get going.」

He walked with Lyla on his left arm, Somni and Egg’s doll on his left arm.

And then proceeded forward for the sake of advancing the plan to the next stage. To realize His Supreme Master’s wish.

Surely, it was a fact that the people who planned to harm Roman and Lumine had roused the wrath of history’s strongest monster. But, that alone wasn’t enough for him to warrant their death sentence. The fact that they went as far as involving Even if Lyla Hellner got caught up in their conspiracy, he still intended to end the matter peacefully.

But, due to the top misunderstanding, the fanatics ended up pouring gasoline into that tiny flame and turning it into a grandiose explosion. Right at this very moment, the hostility between the monster and the mastermind had reached the point of no return.
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