“Ugh. Damn it…”
*Clatter* *Clatter*
Inside the rattling carriage.
The man, confirming he was moving away from the castle, covered the entrance with cloth and tossed off the robe he had been wearing.
As he did so, his blood-stained torso was revealed.
Holding a recovery potion in one hand and checking his body, the man was puzzled.
There wasn’t a single tear in his clothes.
“What the hell? I thought I’d at least grazed one or two.”
With a sigh of relief, the man collapsed down.
He had run into fellow professionals.
Five of them, to be exact.
It felt like a fight similar to one he had experienced before.
Back then, he had infiltrated a hotel to kill a magician employed by the Imperial Army, only to confront two assassins who had come to kill the magician of the Royal Army, resulting in a battle.
He thought he would never fight assassins again, yet here he was, experiencing it again in this way.
“Were they all just lower-tier?”
The man tilted his head, reminiscing about their fighting style.
They were subhumans, yet their movements and attacks were all clean, showing they were quite skilled.
He had heard that assassins had only been trained for a few years in the south.
They must have put in grueling effort to train.
To return without a scratch from such opponents…
“Am I possibly just that strong?”
If it were a regular soldier, it wouldn’t be a surprise, but defeating five skilled assassins?
In the past, he couldn’t even handle an elite knight head-on and had to sneak in to cut their throat while they were asleep in their mansion.
At some point, it felt like he had suddenly grown much stronger.
His mana capacity seemed to have increased as well.
Could this be what people call a growth period?
“Ah.”
Now that he thought about it, his rapid increase in strength had certainly begun after failing to get into the Imperial University.
He had desperately taken on any requests to become a crow, fueled by the frustration of ruining a mission.
And since that Schlus Hainkel guy showed up, he couldn’t let his practice slip.
That pompous magician had mocked him every time they met.
Somehow, it felt like he was exponentially growing stronger over time.
To catch up with Schlus Hainkel, and to free his younger sister from his clutches, he had no choice but to become much stronger.
Perhaps that desperation reached the heavens, he thought, but—
“There’s no way.”
He concluded otherwise.
God does not exist.
Aigis is a lie.
No, even if he did exist, he was not worthy of worship.
How could it be said that an omniscient and benevolent deity exists when starvation and poverty overflow in the continent?
No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t accept it.
*Chuckles* “That idiot Schlus.”
That made Hatlocker suddenly burst out laughing as he recalled recent events.
Just thinking about how Schlus, who acted all tough, would be trembling in a corner the moment he met real assassins was just too hilarious.
No sound was heard from the room where the guy had hidden.
To use his friend as a shield and refuse to help at all, he was such a shameless guy.
“Ugh. I actually fought for that kind of jerk.”
Suddenly, a wave of irritation washed over him.
What could Emilia possibly find appealing about such a coward?
Still, if he relayed this incident to Emilia, she would be very disappointed.
At least now, she wouldn’t have to worry about that trash anymore.
Yeah. He had saved Emilia, so the journey wasn’t entirely useless.
Thinking that way, Hatlocker closed his eyes with a satisfied smile.
*
The return trip was quiet.
Honestly, it felt like it wasn’t a battlefield at all.
*Chirp* *Chirp* The bugs sang at night as I energetically galloped across the plains with Iris trailing behind.
“The moon is hidden by the clouds, so it’s dark. What can you see?”
“I can see just fine.”
“No, I mean, not you Schlus. What can the horse see?”
Only after hearing Iris’s words did I realize.
As I listened with mana, I could see perfectly fine even at night, but to this kid, it must have been pitch black.
Could it be that I was charging through the darkness simply trusting the sign to go straight without any obstacles?
“Ah…”
That was quite unexpected.
I thought this kid hated me.
She was trusting me enough to dash into the unknown darkness at full speed while relying solely on my touch signs.
I never expected she would trust me to that extent.
If I told her to jump off a cliff, she might actually do it.
Is this what they call tsundere?
“Now we’re about to pass through the enemy strongholds.”
“Hm…? Why?”
“Hold on tight.”
“Eek?!”
The enemy was surely lying in wait.
Having pushed hundreds into the Great Forest to ambush me only to spectacularly fail, they would now be coming at me like crazy trying to stop me.
To break through, I increased my speed as much as I could.
“What’s this?”
My expectations were completely off.
As I passed beside a lit stronghold, not a single cavalryman jumped out.
There were surely strongholds ahead, but the infantry wasn’t coming out to block my way.
They obviously saw us.
The subhuman soldiers were still staring at us.
I could see the fear in the movements of their pupils.
It wasn’t that they weren’t blocking us; it was that they couldn’t block us.
“It’s Schlus and the Saintess! Open the main gate!”
Thanks to that, we arrived at the 4th Castle without any conflict.
The massive main gate opened smoothly as we trotted inside.
“Schlus. Don’t be too surprised when we get inside.”
“Don’t be surprised? Why not?”
“There’s something like that. And it’s only good news, so don’t worry too much.”
“…?”
Iris was babbling on about something nonsensical.
It was late at night.
The residents must all be asleep, so there would be no loud noises.
I wanted to slip in quietly, greet Pelaine and Cain, then head straight back to the hotel to wash up and sleep.
“Wooaahhhh!!!”
“Schlus! Schlus! Schlus!”
“Hey! Hey! Make way, you guys! Schlus and the Saintess are passing through!”
Ah…
I wasn’t expecting this loud cheer.
All the knights had gathered to welcome us.
No, it wasn’t just the knights.
Now that I looked, the residents were gathering too.
Though it was deep in the night, the light was so bright that it felt as hot as a summer day, and cheers erupted from both sides.
Soon, Pelaine squeezed through the crowd and walked alongside us, saying,
“Schlus! Saintess Iris! I’m so glad you’ve returned safely! I’ve heard about the negotiation and the battle in the Great Forest!”
“Did you really leak that to the public?”
“It’s good news. It’s better when everyone knows and celebrates together.”
“…”
So it was you.
The culprit behind this burdensome gathering.
I had to suppress the urge to smack Pelaine on the head.
I wanted to collapse and sleep immediately.
Thinking back, I felt respect for Cain.
That guy fought without sleep for over 40 hours, then immediately held a duel and war council.
Even if he is incompetent, he’s still superhuman.
“Was there no commotion inside the castle?”
“There were about 40 enemy spies causing a ruckus, but—”
“When! Where! Who got injured or died?”
“Schlus, did I not just say?”
Leaning toward Pelaine and speaking loudly, Iris tugged at the hem of my clothes.
Oh right, she had indeed said there’d only be good news, so not to worry…
“No one died. Schlusenburgh got injured, but—”
“He got injured?!”
“You need to let me finish… He fully recovered with a high-grade recovery potion.”
“I can’t know that for sure. Iris, right now—”
“I know. We need to check for any additional wounds inside. I’ll go down first.”
“I’ll guide you to the infirmary.”
Iris took my hand and jumped down from the horse, disappearing into the crowd with Pelaine.
But Iris turned back and gave me a slight wink.
It seemed like she mouthed something, but…
What should I wish for?
I wasn’t quite sure what she had said.
“Schlus Hainkel! What an incredible achievement!”
“Imperial Knight Commander?”
“They say you single-handedly defeated a force of 2,000! Outstanding!”
“What…?”
Cain suddenly jumped in, spouting nonsense.
I didn’t even come close to 2,000, what were they talking about?
“I only took down about 300. Why would you take such baseless rumors seriously?”
“There’s no lack of evidence! I saw it clearly with observation magic! 2,000 infantry entered the Great Forest, but only about 1,000 came out!”
“What?”
I was about to refute him when I found myself speechless.
It was certain that I personally killed or incapacitated only about 300.
But if the panicked subhumans fled deeper into the Great Forest and got lost?
They would surely exhaust themselves and die.
Thus, it wasn’t odd for there to be an additional 700 missing.
And to think they pushed in as many as 2,000 into the Great Forest…
I hadn’t expected there would be that many.
They had clearly stripped all their spare forces for an emergency deployment at this hour.
“Damn it! How about you guys greet him properly! Everyone came out to see Schlus!”
“…”
Amid shouts of fireworks here and there, I felt incredibly embarrassed.
Under Cain’s urging, I awkwardly waved my hand.
The cheers only grew louder.
Ugh. My eardrums are gonna burst.
“I heard you repelled the spies. Good job.”
“Good job? It was all thanks to Gawayn’s daughter.”
“Is that so…?”
I had known Trie was strong for a long time, but seeing it firsthand made it feel so real.
I had the advantage of every environmental factor that could instill fear in the enemy, and the low skill level of the foes allowed me to perform almost a massacre.
Yet Trie had to face a fully capable opponent head-on, taking on forty of them at once…
While my achievements might appear more outstanding, Trie had done the much tougher job.
“Well then, I should also visit the infirmary and get some rest.”
“What are you talking about? You should be celebrated!”
“Huh?”
What on earth are you saying?
I was about to say that when—
“Ugh!”
“Guys! It’s the hero’s return! We need to welcome him with all our might!”
“Yes!”
I was forcibly dragged down from my horse.
Cain lightly lifted me and tossed me into the crowd—
“Schlus! Long live! Long live!”
“Ugh!”
I was made to receive a celebratory toss.
It felt almost like being thrown three stories high.
With the strength of these knights, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was for real.
I felt dizzy and was about to puke, but strangely, I didn’t feel entirely bad about it.
Just when I was starting to get used to the loud cheers—
“Gah!”
“Ah…”
I crashed to the ground.
Wait a minute. My waist. I think I broke my waist…
You guys did this on purpose, didn’t you?
Get Iris, damn it!
