“…Tch.”
Just like I instinctively sensed my chances had significantly increased, did she also feel a certainty that defeat was looming?
Belita spat at her feet and roughly scratched her head with her left hand.
“Ha, damn. I’m out of it. Have I been resting too long lately?”
She muttered an excuse that felt a bit pathetic.
“Why don’t you just take a permanent break?”
I provocatively teased, stifling my breath as I took a very thin and deep inhale while chuckling smugly.
I felt my slightly trembling limbs regaining stability.
…Alright. It seems I’ve nearly recovered from the recoil.
If that’s the case…
“I’ll help you out if you want!”
Zing! With a lightning-like thrust, I kicked off the ground and charged forward, thrusting my sword. I pressed down on the pommel with my slightly spread left hand to enhance the piercing power.
“Don’t underestimate me, you adventurer scum!”
Belita switched to a spear with her left hand and hurled it at my feet.
I thought the pain in my shoulder might hinder my movements, but it turned out I could tolerate it just fine.
The spear flew at me with a speed that could only be likened to a flash.
Whoosh!
Moreover, the spearhead was engulfed in flames, as if a fire explosion spell had already activated.
“Ugh!”
If I kept advancing, I’d be hit in the abdomen or lower body. I hurriedly halted and leaped back to escape the explosion radius.
Right after that.
BOOM!
With a deafening noise, the spear embedded in the ground caused a fierce explosion of flames. The earth erupted like I had been struck by a giant’s fist, showering rock debris like shrapnel in all directions.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
I curled up in mid-air, taking a defensive stance as the flying fragments bounced off my armor, making a clang sound.
“Throwing your weapons? Sounds like you’re running short on options!”
Landing smoothly with my heels digging into the dirt, I looked up at Belita and smirked.
Her spear, which seemed so desperately aimed at me, had done me no harm.
Sure, there was a bit of distance between us now, but now that I had figured out the weakness of her charge attack, it wasn’t a problem to worry about any longer.
“Running short on options? Does it look like that?”
However, instead of charging at me, Belita wrapped her shoulder with the tattered ends of her cloak, raising the corners of her mouth in a sly grin.
“I just needed a moment to get a few words out.”
“…A few words?”
Belita didn’t answer my reflexive question. Instead, she abruptly turned her head towards the fighters at the cart and shouted loudly with her mouth wide open.
“Hey, struggling adventurers! Do you even know what you’re carrying right now?”
The shout echoed in my ears.
“What…?”
It was a cry whose meaning was difficult to understand. What were we carrying? Well, it was probably groceries and supplies, right…?
“I’m asking if you know why your lives are being threatened right now!”
Rather than rushing at her with my sword, I found myself unwittingly listening closely, waiting for her to spill the next words.
A few seconds of waiting wouldn’t hurt, right?
To be honest, I was just as curious about the reason for this attack.
“Did you think it was just some ordinary supplies? No way. You’ve been fooled!”
It didn’t seem there was any reason to interrupt. After refusing to answer even when questioned multiple times, she was finally going to spill some beans.
“This…! Why aren’t you fighting? Now that the enemies have dropped their weapons, isn’t this the perfect chance?”
Hearing Rug, the person in charge, urging me on with a pale face definitely made me feel like there was something suspicious going on.
“I’ll tell you!”
Belita stretched her left arm out, pointing at the cart as she shouted.
“What those bastards are transporting is something you’ll never be able to acquire even if you work your whole life for it: the heart of a Jotun!”
The heart of a Jotun.
“To sell the stolen goods from the goddess’s sect, they’ve been disguising themselves as a regular caravan!”
Belita revealed that this was the nature of the cargo Rivilla was transporting and the reason they attacked us.
So that’s why she kept babbling about “heart, heart” earlier.
Indeed, if it was the heart of a Jotun, it was more than enough reason for a silver-tier adventurer-knight to ambush us.
No, actually, it wouldn’t even be strange if a gold-tier showed up too. The Jotun was a demon one could only face after descending many floors deep into a dungeon, so to secure a fresh Jotun heart, one would have to conquer the depths of that dungeon.
‘Rivilla is transporting such an item?’
Honestly, it was hard to believe. Gunther from Burgund and Heid from Hervor were still honing their skills in mid-level dungeons.
Since they hadn’t even dared to enter deep dungeons yet, the knight orders from various nations must also be maintaining a blockade at the entrance without entering.
Then where on earth did they get a Jotun’s heart?
…
Could it be that corpse giant…?
No way, seriously, no way.
Even though it’s a giant’s corpse, it had originally been a rotten corpse raised through necromancy; there couldn’t possibly be a complete heart left inside.
I hadn’t seen it myself, but common sense said that was impossible, right? If you opened up its chest, just rotting flesh would come pouring out.
“Got it? You are expendable shields for them to use cheaply! They thought they could use low-tier adventurers to transport the Jotun’s heart, completely underestimating the danger only to get caught like this!”
With an impassioned voice like a union leader exposing corporate malfeasance, Belita shouted. With that red hair of hers, her tone was very international.
“…Um.”
“No way, really…?”
“You’re saying they really fooled us?”
Was I the only one who found her speech riveting? Bardo and Jane, Friede and Amy, who were fighting desperately, looked at each other with suspicion.
“…What’s a Jotun’s heart?”
“How should I know…?”
“Uh, so… we’ve been conned by that jerk, right? And that’s how we ended up in this mess.”
The trio from Amina seemed somewhat perplexed, not fully grasping what Belita was saying.
“What do you think? Isn’t it an interesting story? You’re not dying because of me, you’re dying because of that jerk!”
“What nonsense! A madwoman’s blabber! A Jotun’s heart? What a ridiculous accusation!”
Rug yelled with veins popping from his neck in denial.
He looked as if he’d be terribly wronged, but since sweat was pouring down like he was bathing, I really found it hard to believe him.
“Ha, playing dumb! Look! These people are the proof!”
“…Huh, me?”
Belita suddenly pointed at me with surprise, making me flinch and instinctively take a step back.
Me as the proof? What kind of nonsense was that? Had the fact that I defeated the corpse giant somehow leaked out?
No, only Friede and Amy knew that, right…?
“Don’t you get it? These are clearly knights! Unique but solidly grounded swordsmanship; they are skilled enough to spar against me and inflict injuries!”
Out of the blue, she offered praise. Honestly, it made me shiver a little.
I was just a bronze adventurer named Hilde, but the original owner of this body was a knight from the Kingdom of Rhine, so Bella’s words weren’t entirely wrong.
Of course, that was where her accuracy ended.
“Could a low-tier adventurer do such a thing? No way! The bronze medal hanging around your neck is just a cover; they are knights! At the very least, corresponding to silver ranks for you!”
“That’s not true…?”
Uhm… it seems like she’s got something very mixed up.
I am indeed a knight-level talent, but that doesn’t mean this adventurer medal hanging around my neck is a disguise, you know?
To hide the fact that I’m Brunhilde, it would be counterproductive to draw excessive attention, so I had been trying to slowly move up after getting my bronze badge.
…Thinking about it, doesn’t that usually count as a disguise?
“Why would a knight be working as a bronze adventurer guarding a goods caravan? It’s obvious. The ones stealing the heart have set up contingency measures, hadn’t they!”
“That’s not it at all…?”
A contingency against the heart of a Jotun? That’s writing a story, a straight-up story.
It’s just the first time I’m hearing about such a thing being hidden in a cart. What contingency are you talking about?
I found it utterly absurd.
“Oh, so that’s why you called us ‘congratulations’ earlier.”
Only then did I begin to grasp what Belita had been babbling about.
She must have suspected something was off when she blandly attacked the caravan, then two knight-level fighters popped out—how could she not be convinced they were transporting a Jotun’s heart?
As for me, completely unrelated to the heart escort, it was infuriating that she had such misconceptions.
Of course, the only ones who would actually understand my innocence were my party members, Friede, Amy, and Kikel.
They knew I wasn’t some backup placed by Rivilla, but just a regular adventurer taking a suitable request.
…Which means, the other adventurers, who didn’t know that, would have no choice but to suspect me.
“Surely…”
Bardo glanced at me hesitantly, dropping his voice low.
His once trusting gaze held nothing but suspicion and disbelief now, shaking strangely.
It felt like the distraught look of a virgin man who found another man’s underwear in his girlfriend’s house.
Please don’t look at me like that…!
I found myself turning away instinctively, shrugging my shoulders.
The intensity of betrayal lurking in his eyes was so strong that if I held eye contact, I might feel guilt rising even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“No, um, I may be a little strong, but that’s not…”
I tried to frantically explain myself, turning my gaze away from Bardo to prove my innocence.
It’s true my skill level is knight-tier, but everything else was just this crazy girl’s misunderstanding.
But.
“Damn…! At this point, there’s no need to hide anything anymore!”
With a sudden outburst, Rug pulled out his sword, completely drowning out the words I was trying to say.
“Everyone, listen up! We’re abandoning the rear cart! Fight your way out with your lives!”
That was like a confession that perfectly confirmed all the accusations against me.
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