CH 25

“Don’t take it from me……”

I’m tired. I feel it myself.

I’ve been harsh to Thor, who has been so kind to me. I didn’t want anyone to see what was going on in my heart. It’s a disgraceful way to show it, and I despise Thor’s kindness.

But it will not change my feelings for the Boesheit.

I will end it all with my own hands. I have to get rid of as many people as possible who inherit that blood.

“Gau! Guuuuurrrrrrr!”

Suddenly, Gabriel bares her fangs and howls. I’ve never seen her this angry before.

“Gau!”

. Gabriel’s sharp fangs pierce my right arm.

“It hurts!! It hurts!”

Why is Gabriel biting me? I thought she recognizes me as her master and loves me. I wonder if she saw how pathetic I was and grew tired of me.

“It hurts, Gabriel! Let go!”

There’s no blood. My defenses have been raised during my time in the dungeon. The fangs of Gabriel, a common wolf, would not be able to scratch my skin, but I could still feel the pain.

After being bitten for a while, Gabriel finally releases my arm. It’s slightly reddened, and the skin is indented in the shape of her fangs.

“What’s wrong with you…… Gabriel?”

She starts licking the spot where I was bitten this time. After a few seconds of licking, Gabriel lies down beside me. I’m sure she’s feeling sorry for her actions because her ears are down.

“You’re smart, Gabriel.”

Thor strokes Gabriel’s head. Gabriel’s eyes narrow and her ears twitch in comfort.

“Hey Henry?”

Thor speaks to me in a gentle tone. I can’t look at her properly.

“The village sister taught me how to make herb-roasted meat. I’ll do my best to make it when we get home and we can all eat it together.”

“…… What?”

“I’ve always left the cooking to Sheila. I’m sure Sheila will be busy making potions from now on, so I’ll be helping her out with various things.”

We’re at war.

Someone is fighting as we speak. Even though the skeletons are retreating, there is no time for this type of conversation.

“……If you die, we won’t be able to eat together. This battle isn’t the end for us, right?”

She wraps her hands around my cheeks. A single tear falls from Thor’s eye.

“Hey Henry…… please, come back alive. Let’s go home again……”

Thor wipes the tears with the hem of her clothes. The red eyes look even redder than before.

I couldn’t open my mouth because of the mixture of emotions in my head. What she’s letting out is about to overflow her eyes, but she clenches her teeth and stops.

◇◇◇

After bringing everyone back to Sirius’s house, I go back to the battlefield.

Looking over the battlefield from the watchtower, I can see a group of skeletons a short distance away. The number of skeletons have dwindled considerably and is now just below 100.

“Ohh, Henry, aren’t your eyes red?”

“No.”

There is no such fact at all.

Sirius, who is standing beside me, uses his observant eyes to stare at my face. But I ignore him.

“I don’t care about that. What’s more, is Ace in that group of skeletons?”

“Probably that center there. They reported seeing the boy with the chains. It’s weird why he hasn’t run away.”

….The boy in chains. He’s a victim. I’d like to get him out of here unharmed if I can.

“All right. What’s the status of our forces?”

“There are no wounded, as they have been healed with potions. There are two dead. We have about thirty men left, including us.”

We’ve defeated almost a thousand skeletons and lost only two. If some strategist were to look at this, he would say it was a great victory. But…

“Okay. I’m going.”

“Please don’t do anything rash… is what I’d like to say. But we can’t leave our posts because the skeletons may attack the village in scattered groups,”

“It’s okay. I’m going.”

“Wait. Take this with you.”

Sirius gives me a healing potion. I’m very grateful for it, since I’ve used quite a bit and there’s no potion left in my hand.

This healing potion is wonderful. The thought of not having it sends chills down my spine.

With Sirius’s words behind my back, I jump down from the watchtower towards the battlefield. I’m sure I’ll take unnecessary damage to my legs, but I’m going to focus on impact here. If Ace is even a little frightened, it will be a blessing in disguise.

◇◇◇

I confront a group of skeletons, but they don’t move an inch. The swords in their hands point sloppily at the ground, and they don’t show a shred of hostility.

Are they looking down on me because I’m alone? Or maybe they lost the will to fight and are planning to surrender. But I don’t believe that Ace is that auspicious of a person.

“Ace Boesheit! Come out!”

I call out loudly to the group. Then the skeletons make a path wide enough for one person to walk through, and kneel down on the spot.

There are two people walking on the path. One of them is Ace. The other is a boy in chains – no, that’s Sareha, the 13th Prince. Why is he here?

“You’re so loud. I knew it was you, Henry. Your hair color is as unpleasant as ever.”

Something stirs in the back of my chest. The man in the jet-black robes is definitely Ace. Nothing has changed since I saw him at the royal palace.

Sareha’s face contorts in pain every time the chain is pulled. His light brown skin is stained with blood and dust. His slender arms and legs seem to have no more energy to exert.

“This guy, he hollered at you yesterday, you know? Why didn’t you help him? Oh, you poor thing.”

“You guys still like to quarrel with your brothers, don’t you? Why don’t you just let him go?”

Ace clicks his tongue then kicks Sareha, hatefully staring at him. I don’t remember Ace being so resentful toward Sareha.

“Conversation is important, isn’t it, Henry? Why didn’t you help him? Doesn’t your lowly mixed blood have any humanity at all?”

“I don’t need to tell you that the blood of Boesheit is purely dirty, right?”

“I hate that composure of yours. I’ve always hated you. …. Just the thought of you being alive, eating, and having a good time with someone makes my insides boil!”

Ace’s face is distorted hideously, with no room to spare. The staff in his hand is clenched tightly.

“Life in the palace was great. It’s a great feeling just remembering the crying face on that snowy day. I’m sure you think so too, don’t you, Sareha!?”

“Ugh……Brother Henry…..”

Sareha mutters helplessly.

That’s another Boesheit. No matter how pitiful he is, my heart must not be moved.

I approach the group of skeletons. Ace is screaming at me, but I ignore him.

When I find a decent amount of skeletons, I slash at them with my scythe. As if drawing a straight line horizontally, four skeletons are cut in half, standing still and unmoving.

“I can kill the skeletons in here by myself. It doesn’t matter if I die. The Beastman are strong. They can kill you Ace.”

“You think you’ve already won, Henry? Do you think those weak bones are all I have?”

“Are you going to summon another undead? I can kill you while you are finishing your chanting. It doesn’t matter if you have a hostage.”

“Haha, hahahahahaha!!”

Ace laughs loudly as if he’s lost his mind. I have a bad feeling about this, but I can’t predict what he’s going to do. I’m not sure if I should cut in or just wait and see.

“Henry!! It’s better for you to run back to the village as soon as possible!”

“……What are you saying—“

As soon as Ace finishes talking, there is a sound that reaches my ears, a roar like the earth cracking. A little later, a muddy stream comes rushing into the village from far away. It’s the overflow of a river.

“Hahahaha! While you guys were protecting the village, we blocked the river! It was a lot of work, you know how many thousands of undead we used?! I was actually going to wait until I had more corpses, but it doesn’t matter now!”

At that speed, the village would be swallowed within minutes. The sporadic attacks, were they just camouflage for the damming of the river?

The goal was not to destroy the village. If it became known that he had attacked the Beastman village without permission, it would undermine the factional struggle. Would he go this far to destroy the evidence?

“I’ve won, Henry! You were defeated from the very beginning! It’s the village you protected so well! Oh, it feels good!!”

When Ace raises his staff above his head, a huge demon descends from the sky. It’s called a gryphon. He seems to be using it as an undead version of itself.

Ace forcibly holds Sareha and straddles the gryphon. He flies off into the distance without giving me time to call out to him.

Sirius in the watchtower is shouting.

He must be trying to get those who can move to higher ground. But the exhausted warriors are not moving fast enough. Some of them may not be able to help.

I turn my back on the muddy stream and start running toward the village.

Everyone is still at Sirius’s house. Along with the elderly who can’t move.