Volume 3 - CH 15

Act 3-15: Tales Woven By A Monster

Half of the eyewitnesses vomited on the spot when they saw the nightmarish meal in front of them. As for the other half, they trembled like newborn calves. Several maids turned their faces away from the grotesque spectacle.

Even my face had lost all of its colors. The only one unaffected by such a sight was Zack.

Anyhow, this event proved that Jane was truly trying to assassinate Lord Oliver.

「Big Sis, do you have the antidote for this poisoned dish?」

Zack asked with a mixed look on his face.

「From the very beginning, there was no poison in this dish.」

Asta immediately replied with a strangely refreshed look on her face.

「It’s not poisoned?」

「Yes. The dish poisoned by that girl is this one.」

Another plate suddenly appeared in Asta’s left hand.

「Eh? Then, what about the dish they ate?」

「A~h, are you referring to this?」

Asta placed the dish she had claimed to be poisoned, which was in her right hand, back on the table. Then, she raised the palm of her right hand, and suddenly, another plate appeared on her palm.

Seeing that impossible phenomenon, Zack flapped his mouth like a goldfish for a while.

「Good grief, Big Sis is truly a devil.」

In the end, Zack managed to praise Asta.

「Indeed, it’s just as you say.」

Asta lightly accepted Zack’s praise, then.

「Finished. All of you are finished!! More than five hundred members of serpent blood have already surrounded this city! Not even a bug can escape from them!!」

Jane screamed with a cramped face that was further soiled by tears, drool, and nasal mucus.

「S-Serpent blood!? Are you one of their members!?」

The color drained from Lord Oliver’s face.

「YEAH! I’m the scout of Serpent Blood! They’ll raid the city if I don’t send a signal to them, and kill all of you!!」

Lord Oliver fell to his knees, looking down on the floor with despair.

「The worst…」

Then, he fell on his rear as if he had no idea about what to do anymore.

「Lord Oliver, do you know about them?」

「Yeah, Serpent Blood is one of the top ten mafias in this Amelia kingdom.」

「Can we beat them?」

「This Akinashi territory is just a mining city. Only a limited number of hunters operate here. We’ll lose to those five hundreds members of Serpent Blood no matter what.」

The room fell into chaos the moment Lord Oliver said so.

「W-What shall we do now?」

「Don’t ask me!」

It was only natural for them to lose their cool when seeing even their calm and collected Lord Oliver unable to do anything about the current situation.

We are really in a difficult situation. We’re doomed for sure if we only cross our arms and watch from the side without doing anything. We have to move immediately.

「Serves you right! All of you will die wretched deaths!!」

Jane triumphantly laughed upon seeing Lord Oliver’s helpless figure.

Seeing that, Zack only shrugged, looking down at Jane as if she were the most pitiful person in the world.

「Good grief! How unlucky! Truly unlucky!」

He repeatedly muttered that,

「It’s too late if you want to feel regret now! Men, women, children, babies, youngsters, and oldies, all of you are going to di―」

Before Jane could finish her triumphant victory declaration, the door suddenly flung open. Armored soldiers hurriedly entered the room.

「O-o-outside the city…」

The soldier was trying to say something while pointing with his finger outside, but the words coming out of his mouth were a mess.

「LORD OLIVER!」

Hearing the shout that surprised even us, Lord Oliver looked at the employees gathered in the room as if wondering whether to repel the invaders or not. Then, he slapped his cheeks with his hands, rose from his chair, and raised his right hand.

「CALM DOWN! Sure enough, it’s impossible for the soldiers of this territory alone to repel the invader. But, Sword Saint-sama is living in the next city. We have to survive until he comes with his reinforcement!」

He shouted as if to cheer himself too.

「I agree with Lord Oliver. But Kai, who’s camping somewhere in the 【Demonic Forest】 of East End, is closer to us than Lamour. Let’s stall for the time until Kai comes with his reinforcement.」

Since 【Demonic Forest】 is closer to Akinashi, Kai should be able to arrive here faster. Moreover, Kai had that giant bird that could cross extremely long distances in mere minutes. If he used that giant bird, he should be able to come from 【Demonic Forest】 to Akinashi territory in mere seconds. In short, our victory was guaranteed as long as we could reach 【Demonic Forest】.

Naturally, we can’t abandon Akinashi’s defense, too, but Zack and Asta should be able to stall for the time being.

In fact, Zack is really powerful. If not for Kai, he would be my first choice as a royal guard. It’s the same for Asta. I can guess that she’s also quite powerful from the way she moved a while ago, a completely bizarre movement. Although they wouldn’t be able to defeat five hundred people, they could at least stall for Kai’s arrival.

「Is your royal guard strong enough to defeat five hundred strongmen?」

Lord Oliver asked while looking at me. I had already told him that Kai was a young man who had received incompetent as his gift. Thus, my remarks about waiting for Kai’s reinforcement might have sounded unbelievable to Lord Oliver.

「Yeah. His Majesty’s royal guard, Knight Leader Arnold, himself testified that Kai was far more powerful than him.」

「…」

The entire room fell silent. Knight Leader Arnold was well-known as the best sword master in the Amelia kingdom. Thus, it wasn’t easy to imagine someone even stronger than him. That was the focus of everyone’s attention right now.

「Even then, it’s still impossible…」

The soldier who had reported the news fell to his knees, hanging his head down while muttering those words. Lord Oliver walked up to that soldier and grabbed him, who had seemingly lost all hope, by his shoulder.

「What do you mean by impossible?」

Sure enough, that was something I was also curious about.

「We can’t win even if we call for reinforcement!! How can we win when Akinashi is being surrounded by more than a thousand people!?」

More than a thousand? Serpent Blood should have only around five hundred members. The only reason for this happening at such a time was…

「Are you saying that we’re currently being surrounded by more than a thousand enemies!?」

「Aah, maybe we can guess Shifu’s plan by asking this man. Say, those enemies must be not your run-of-the-mill fellas, right? Did you see anything unusual about them? Spit all of it no matter how trivial it might be.」

The soldier pointed toward his forehead with his trembling hand, but…

「If I’m not wrong, one of those people was holding a flag with a crest that looked like a dragon and a jar.」

He managed to speak only after much difficulty.

「Crest of… a dragon and a jar?」

It might be the crest of a dragon coming out of a jar. I have heard about such a crest back in the royal capital. And that should be…

「KUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! He really did it! It’s most probably the crest of the Tao family!」

Zack didn’t hold back his laugh as he pressed the palm of his right hand to his face. I suddenly recalled the information about them, which I had heard from the civil officials.

The Tao family is one of the biggest underground syndicates in the east and is famous for its strength. Due to their extremely strict entrance examination, every single one of their members is a mighty warrior. They are hailed as one of the kings of the underworld, and their status is a cut above the likes of Serpent Blood.

「So, we’re calling the Tao Family to win over the Wind Cat!? You must be kidding, right!? That’s too reckless!」

I mean, from the perspective of the Tao Family, one of the kings of the underworld, Wind Cat is nothing more than a bunch of rogue thieves, the bottom of the barrel. Using the Tao Family to win over Wind Cat, a bottom-of-the-barrel organization is simply overkill, and it might even backfire on us.

「Too late for saying that at this stage, Princess.」

「Yeah. Master is a rare lunatic even amongst the oddballs, after all.」

Asta said so as if she were giving up.

「How can it be!? How can a powerhouse like the Tao family come so far just to attack a remote place like this!?」

Jane screamed with disbelief on her face.

Zack just pricked his ear with his pinky finger, an annoyed look on his face.

「That’s why I said that “you guys are truly unlucky.” You guys are nothing more than disposable pawns, a group of clowns who dance in accordance with the scenario woven by a monster. Give it up! You guys are simply way too unlucky this time around.」

His gaze filled with pity.

「Uhm, I agree with him. The one who sent you guys to this place is much more sinister than me. He’ll make you dance on his palm, suck your bones till they dry, watch your despaired face, and then let you die the most wretched death.」

Even though she bent forward, placing her hands on her slender waist while looking down on Jane, Asta was smiling ear to ear. Her figure was just like the depiction of the devil who the demon race worshiped in the fairy tale.

「…」

Jane’s eyes opened wide as stared at Asta for a while. She soon broke into tears while hugging herself.

Lord Oliver and his other employees, who looked like they had yet to understand the situation, could only look at this spectacle with dumbfounded expressions.

「I guess we have finished our role here. The only thing left is to watch the ending of the tales woven by the monster from the best position.」

Thus, the show of the plan to recruit Wind Cat premiered with Zack’s remark as its trigger.