CH 115

Hostage Exchange

“Wh, Wh, What are you saying!”

As her striker lay on the ground, Schleer shouted. Taking hostages is not looked upon kindly by aristocrats. One could say that Diaroze’s action here is unthinkable.

“If you are going to kill me then hurry up and do it!”

With tears of anger and shame in her eyes, Schleer roared. That would be better than putting up with this disgrace. However, in contrast to her, Kisei started to panic.

“S, Stop! Don’t be stupid! Why would you ask her to kill you like that!!”

“B, But……”

“But what!? You only have one life you know!!”

Being shouted at by Kisei, Schleer shut her mouth. She was shocked by this side of him that she has never seen before.

“If I surrender, will you really spare her?”

“……Eh!?”

For some reason, Diaroze, whose expression has already melted from joy, was shaken by Kisei’s words.

“Y, Yeah. I will spare her. The Calencian army that lost Hokuto Kisei is no longer a threat. I wouldn’t mind letting a backwater princess or two live.”

Rather, it would be better for Diaroze if she let Schleer go back alive. Without Kisei, she would be able to squarely defeat the Calencian army from the front. This time she needs to defeat Schleer fair and square to regain her lost honor.

“…….Understood.”

The i-con system allows Kisei to read others’ thoughts to some extent and he knows that she isn’t lying. Gritting his teeth, Kisei let out a deep sigh before throwing away the Zweihander, his only remaining weapon.

“Kisei-san!”

Schleer shouted with an almost crying voice. Diaroze, on the other hand, excitedly exhaled with her heated breath before replying to Kisei with a big smile.

“Alright, now walk over to me. Slowly. If you make any strange movement I will stab the cockpit.”

“…..yes, yes.”

Kisei no longer has any option but to obey. With his hands raised up, he approaches the [Zentis].

“That’s right, just like that! Now jump into my cockpit!”

When Kisei arrived in front of the [Zentis], he opened his cockpit hatch and does as he was told.

Seeing that, Diaroze pressed the switch to open her cockpit with a trembling hand.

“Fu, Fufufufu……we’ve finally met, Hokuto Kisei! J, Just like rumors, it seems that you are quite a beauty huh. Kukuku……”

“You damn pervert! Go burn in hell, you despicable woman!”

Schleer screamed as she can’t bear what’s happening but it simply went through Diaroze’s ears. With excitement, Diaroze looks at Kisei’s body as if she was licking him whole.

“O, Oops, it seems that you are packing something dangerous huh? Ditch that holster.”

“…..I didn’t put a gun in this though.”

Kisei seems extremely unwilling to throw it away but this is no time to be making excuse. He removed his lollipop holster from his thigh and threw it out of the cockpit.”

“Good, good, GOOD, Alright! Now, hop in!”

“Argh, seriously……”

With a sigh, Kisei entered the [Zentis]’s cockpit. Then, Diaroze proceeded to kick the now unmanned [Caliburn-Revive] with a vile smile on her face.

The 12 meters tall white giant tumbled to the ground with a loud noise.

“Uwah!?”

Kisei lost his balance from the sudden movement and collapsed forward where Diaroze received him. Diaroze then operates the control stick with her right hand alone while hugging him with her left arm.

With that done, she closed the cockpit hatch and take a few steps back with the [Zentis].

“Alright, you may stand…..woman. Hokuto Kisei is mine now.”

“Kuuh……”

While clenching her teeth with enough force to crush them, Schleer slipped her striker out of the electrifying net and stood up. She wanted to just blast Diaroze’s striker away with her blaster cannon but she can’t do anything as long as Kisei is in there with her.

“I will give you a one-week truce. Well, do your best to build up your army until then.”

As long as the Calencian lost their joker, Hokuto Kisei, they won’t be able to win against the better-equipped Noredian army. The Noredian army is overwhelmingly superior in both quality and quantity. Moreover, with the cornerstone of their morale lost, the Calencian surely can’t put up a decent fight.

All that is left is to decide on how to play with them, thought Diaroze.

Still, it is not something that they can settle in a couple of days. Although she wants to finish this as soon as possible, Diaroze decided to give the Calencian side a small grace period.

“Now, hurry up and get out of my sight. As I promised, I will let you go back alive. Kukuku…….”

“…….you better prepare yourself the next time we meet.”

Schleer, who was barely able to squeeze her voice out through her teeth, has a blue vein popping up on her forehead. She then silently fired her thruster to retrieve Saki’s [Dainsleif] that was lying a little distance away from them.

“Kisei-san, I’m truly sorry about this. I will definitely save you.”

After saying that much, Schleer flew away without even waiting for his reply. Seeing her off, Diarroze lets go of her control stick and hugs Kisei with both arms.

“Finally……finally I got my hands on you! From now on you are mine! I won’t let anyone else have you……!”

With a hot breath blowing on his ears, a chill ran down Kisei’s spine.