chapter 4

” ” ” Ee? ” ” ”

All the soldiers watching muttered in disbelief, their gazes slowly falling back to Cliff . The person in question, Cliff, had noticed something strange had happened . That was when he noticed his hand rolling on the ground, and his face distorted with pain .

“Hi-! Higyaaaaa—!”

Blood spurted from the stump where cliff’s hand had been . His screams echoed throughout the entire street . Samuel looked to the girl and found she now wielded a jet-black sword . Blood dripped from the tip of it, and everyone knew what had happened then .

“It huuuurrrrtts! It HUUuuuurrrrtsss!”

Cliff wailed, tears and snot wetting his face . He tried to run from the girl as he tried to stave off the bleeding with his remaining hand . The girl started to hum a melody as she held the sword up horizontally, then threw it with ease . The blade pierced Cliff’s armor as if it had been an arrow released from a bow . Its black, and bloodied, top protruded out his chest, and a black fog began to raise up from it .

“Kaha! … Akh…”

Cliff’s body convulsed several times before finally, he collapsed onto the ground like a broken doll . An eerie silence fell upon Canary street, only broken by the delicate girl’s humming .

“That’s why I told you not to disturb me . Really, humans are such war-like creatures or did I not communicate my intentions properly? Human language is really complicated after all…”

The words the girl spoke seemed like nonsense to the others . She pulled the sword from Cliff’s dead body as she stepped on his head . Then, after she shook the blood from it, turned to the soldier who held a spear .

“Uh, a, Ah!”

The soldier in question screamed in panic . The other soldiers drew their weapons and came at her frantically . On the other hand, the girl did not panic and dodged each of their attacks without effort . Her skirt dancing along with each move . It was as if she was conducting a dance with the utmost grace . Samuel clicked his tongue, he was aware that even the most skilled elite warrior could not execute such exquisite moves .

The possibility that his men could even injure the girl in combat was… Zero . He raised his alertness to the fullest . He didn’t know who this girl was, but he was damn sure that she wasn’t a mere village girl .

“U-n, is it my turn now?”

When the soldiers finally slowed due to their exhaustion, the girl went onto the offensive . She cut off heads, crushed faces, cut off limbs, or ran them threw their heart with her sword . With each move, a scream broke out followed by blood and gore . It was a true, onesided, slaughter .   The area quickly became a sea of blood and corpses . The heavy scent of blood came with the wind before it hit Samuel’s nose .

The few soldiers who hadn’t jumped into the battle began to drop their weapons, one after another . One step at a time, they began to retreat . Too afraid to fight the girl . Their eyes were clouded with fear, and they thought they could see a grim reaper before them .

No longer sensing any will to fight from the remaining soldiers, the girl, whose body was dyed head to toe in blood, gave a warm smile to the remaining soldiers .

“Hi-hiiiiiiiiiii! A monster! A monster appeared!”

“A-Are you kidding me?! Will this be when I die?!”

“Mo-Mommy! He, heeeelp mee!”

Soldiers began to run away as they cried out in fear . Some of them became weak-legged and just began to crawl on the ground like worms Some of them gritted their teeth to the point of breaking, and strangely, some ran while laughing .

In the end, only one imperial soldier was left, but no one would’ve blamed the ones who ran . With the threat of imminent death, who would not cower in fear? The girl didn’t give chase to the flight of soldiers and just stood there silently . That one soldier may have been overlooked because he never raised his weapon .

“Ah, Captain-san, was it? You can run away too, you know? I won’t kill you as long as you don’t disturb me . ”

The girl turned to Samuel as though she just remembered that he was there just now . Her blood-drenched lips moved ever so subtly .

“… I understand now that you are not deaf . Can I ask you one question?”

“Un . Sure, I don’t mind . ”

“How did you master such movements and swordsmanship? It’s not something easy to learn, especially for a young woman . ”

“Ee, I’ll feel bad if you say that it’s easy, but I was taught everything by Zet . ”

“… Zet?”

“Right, Zet . Do you know where Zet is?”

The girl approached with a carefree smile on her face . With such an innocent face, no one would believe that the owner of that face had slaughtered so many soldiers just moments ago – a stark contrast to her blood-bathed body .

“… Sorry, but I don’t know where this Zet is . ”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really . If someone with that name passed through here, I should’ve heard about it . ”

“Hmm . Oh, by the way, are you not going to run away? It’s okay, I won’t chase after you . ”

The more they conversed, the more he realized just how honest this girl was, so Samuel responded to the girl’s offer with the shake of his head .

“Eh? Not running away?”

“Kukuku, why should I run? I’m quite confident in my skill . ”

“… Is that so? But you don’t look that strong though . ”

A moment of silence followed that before Samual broke into violent laughter after he was ridiculed by her .

“Hahahaa! This is the first time someone ridiculed me like that . To be able to meet a monster like you is why I like being on the battlefield!”

“Who is the monster? My name is Olivia . ”

“Olivia said with her hands on her hands .

“I see . I will remember that name . It seems the Kingdom will have its first female general – no, is recruiting a monster allowed? … I don’t know anymore…”

As Samuel spoke to himself, he drew the sword that hung from his back . The blade, forged specifically to be as thin as possible to be flexible, but strong, was a two-handed sword . A sword that had accompanied Samuel into numerous battlefields without breaking . He licked the blade’s edge before he inhaled its scent, then got into a battle stance . In front of him, the smiling Olivia .

He lowered his stance as he exhaled . The man then rushed Olivia with a speed that betrayed his large frame and thrusted the sword forward with tremendous force . With this awe-inspiring “Ferocious Thrust”, Samuel had slaughtered many well-known warriors . Even if he faced a monster, it was simply an enemy he needed to overcome .

“I only need to aim for one thing – the heart!”

The blade cut through the air, aimed towards the girl’s heart .

“Got youuu!”

Samuel shouted once he was sure of his victory, but he soon saw a sight that was different than his expectations . It was not the beautiful Olivia, vomiting blood as she collapsed from the mortal wound to her heart, instead, the world turned upside down . Before his consciousness faded, he heard a soft confused voice mutter…

“What’s with him shouting ‘Got you’, just now?”