Chapter 464 (2/2)

But now that I understand, the angrier I start to get.

「I’m taking this woman. You can go to sleep.」

I run at Christoph.

「Guh, but I――!」

Resolving himself this time, Christoph gets into a defensive stance with his sword.

「It’s no use.」

I stop right in front of Christoph, step to the side and give him a roundhouse kick.

「Uwaaaah!!」

Chirstoph flies away and crashes into the tower again.

Christoph is not superior to me in any aspect of battle.

With such a gap in strength and speed, it’s a piece of cake to crack his defense.

「Celia, hurry and tie him…… hooh.」

「Zillia is……my……woman……」

Christoph didn’t faint.

Even though blood trickles down his forehead and his legs are wobbly, he still points his sword at me.

「You haven’t gotten enough? Or are you actually going to try to kill me?」

I stare intensely at Christoph.

It’s the same kind of murderous gaze I use on enemies.

Christoph ultimately wavers.

He takes a step back, but returns the glare after seeing Zillia again.

「I don’t want to kill you. Besides, I can’t hope to win against you……I was the one who betrayed you, so I feel sorry, not resentful.」

I increase the blood l.u.s.t in my eyes but Christoph looks away.

「But…… Zillia is my woman. I will do anything to protect her!」

Christoph positions his sword at eye level.

The tip of his sword is unsteady and his steps are sluggish.

That’s enough for me to confirm how weak his stance is, but his eyes are genuine.

「Very well.」

I point my Dual Crater at Christoph.

Compared to his ma.s.s-produced one-handed sword, the size, shape and sinister aura of my sword surpa.s.ses his.

「Here I go.」

I kick off the ground and dash toward Christoph.

「Come!!」

He swings his sword to intercept me.

I deliberately choose not to avoid and let it land on my shoulder.

<hr>The blade makes a dull thud and bounces off.

I didn’t particularly do anything.

His slash was simply too slow and inaccurate, so he ended up striking the st.u.r.diest part of my armor.

With that kind of swing, the result would have been the same no matter where he slashed my armor though.

「Too weak.」

I reduce the distance between us and lock swords with him, but when I make contact with the guard of his sword, Christoph flies away.

Our strength levels are too far apart.

「Uwaaaah!」

Christoph rolls on the ground and tries to stand back up.

「Too slow.」

My running speed was not affected when I chased after Christoph, so I was ready to meet him with a downward swing before he could recover.

「Uwaaaaaaah!!」

He flies away at an angle after being hit by the b.u.t.t of my sword.

Then, after bouncing two or three times on the ground, he collapses on the spot.

「No…… I can’t go down…… I decided to protect her―― guwaaah!!」

I knee Christoph in the stomach as he somehow finds a way to get up.

He floats up in the air about 3 m, falls back down and writhes in pain.

Christoph’s strength and speed is, as usual, nothing special.

He has nothing that will help him win against me.

「Gahh, gehoh!」

「Do you understand? You’ll never win against me. Even if you want to protect a woman, you’re not strong enough. Give it up and come back to our side. I’ll return Zillia to you after injecting her with my seed.」

「That’s enough, Christoph. If you stop now, I’ll forgive you after beating your face until it changes shape and plucking off all your nails. Don’t trouble Aegir-sama any further!」

Celia also advises him to stop.

But Christoph, after briefly struggling, stands up again.

「……I will…… protect Zillia……」

I’m impressed. I am purposely not using the sharp part of my blade so I don’t kill him.

Nevertheless, I didn’t really hold back with that combo attack.

It should have been powerful enough to bring Agor or Mack to their knees too.

I didn’t think the weak and gutless Christoph could stand.

「This……is where it ends. I won’t allow you to resist anymore.」

I deliberately show him that I’m changing the way I hold the Dual Crater.

「I’ll kill you next time.」

My tone should also be different. I said it with conviction after all.

I’ve gotten fond of Christoph.

Even now, after he lost his way because he fell in love with a girl, I still believe he’s a trustworthy guy.

However, I don’t intend to foolishly treat him as a friend if he continues to point his sword at me.

「You heard me? I’m going to kill you. Will you still attack me?」

I shut off the blood l.u.s.t I was emitting until now.

There is no more need to intimidate him.

「Yeah……I heard you. But I won’t stand down, Aegir. She’s someone precious to me.」

Christoph smiles. I do the same.

Unfortunately, it looks like this is it.

「S-stop…… I’ll let you embrace me as much as you want……I don’t mind if you treat me as your plaything…… just don’t kill him……」

Zillia clings onto my leg.

I grab her shoulder and pull her away from me.

「I can’t do that. Look at his eyes.」

Christoph has the eyes of a determined man.

When he has those eyes, I have to meet him with my full strength.

「Let’s go.」

「Yeah.」

「Nooo…… Christoph!」

Christoph declares his agreement and charges at me in a straight line.

Sluggish…… slow…… unstable…… almost like an infant.

If I look carefully, I see that even his eyes are closed. I thought he was determined and this is what he shows me?

「See ya, Christoph. It was fun.」

I slowly raise my Dual Crater.

Celia puts her hands together and prays for Christoph to have a peaceful death.

When I reminisce on our times together, I hesitate briefly, then resolve myself to slash at his neck from right to left.

My aim is perfect and Christoph, who has his eyes closed, should not be able to dodge.

I only have to cut through his neck.

「Wah!?」

「What!?」

Right before I could make contact, Christoph’s head suddenly dips down.

My sword which should have decapitated him instead sliced off a few strands of hair on the top of his head and whiffed.

「Ducking down while charging!?」

I hear the frantic Celia.

A high-speed maneuver of slipping through my attack in the moment before it hits during a sprint is impossible, or at the very least it’s an expert’s move which he’s not capable of.

I instantly lower my gaze to my feet.

「He just stumbled!?」

I spot a fist-sized dent in the ground.

His foot must have gotten stuck in that depression and caused him to trip.

The sword he sticks out approaches me

In a duel between experts, this would have been fatal.

However, the sword’s wielder in this case is Christoph.

「It’s not over yet!!」

I use all my might to retract my sword.

I go as far as lifting up my right leg and tilting my body to bring my sword back for a diagonal slash at Christoph who is now right before my eyes.

With his speed in mind, I should make it in time.

「Uwah!」

「Guh!?」

Unfortunately, my slash misses and my sword slams into the ground.

And then, Christoph’s body danced in the air.

The moment I tried to cut Christoph down, both of his feet leapt in the air for a spinning jump, and he managed to narrowly dodge my sword.

「Those aren’t…… human movements……」

I hear Celia’s comment again. Although she is proud of her acrobatic ability, even she couldn’t do something like that.

I’ve never seen such movements.

Some water splashes my face.

I glance in the direction of where it came from and find a small puddle of water, probably created by the elves’ water magic.

「This time, he just slipped on mud!?」

I can’t help shouting.

After stumbling forward, his foot landed in a puddle and slipped sideways because of the mud.

Christoph himself likely doesn’t know what’s going on.

After all, he charged at me with his eyes closed from the start!

Now, dodging is impossible.

Because my missed sword landed into the ground, my side was left open.

「Uwaaah!!」

The screaming Christoph collides with me.

His thrust is beautifully drawn into the gap in my armor and into my side.

「Hardlett-dono got hit!!」

「I-it’s fine! A thrust as a result of a slip and fall won’t get through Aegir-sama’s muscles!」

That’s true.

Christoph’s weak thrust, even if it happens to find the gap in my armor, won’t pierce my skin.

However, he hit a bad spot.

Christoph’s thrust happens to stab the same place Maestus injured me.

「Guoooh!」

I let out a groan from the depths of my stomach.

I instinctively grab Christoph with my right hand and pin him on the ground.

「Uwaaah!」

This time, he hits his head and faints.

But at the same time, I feel my legs lose strength and I fall to one knee.

「T-the demon was brought down……?」

「No way……Christoph did it?」

I hear the enemy soldiers cry out in disbelief.

The weight of the Dual Crater instantly grows heavier and drops from my hand.

My vision also narrows.

「――!!」

「――!!!」

Celia and Irijina run to my side.

「I-I surrender……right now! We surrender! Spare the lives of my subordinates!」

Zillia yells and urges the other enemy soldiers to disarm themselves.

The escort unit also ceases their attack when they see me on my knees.

「Tie him up…… don’t kill him.」

I point to Christoph.

I’m glad I can still speak.

「Man…… I didn’t expect you to take me down……」

I proceed to collapse into the arms of Irijina and Celia.

Losing to a guy who only possesses good luck should be humiliating, but for some reason I don’t feel too bad.

I smile when I look at Christoph foaming at the mouth and lose consciousness with that as the last thing I see.

Protagonist: Aegir Hardlett. 25 years old. Summer.

Status: Goldonia Kingdom Margrave. Great Feudal Lord of Eastern Area. Mountain Legend.

Friend of the Dwarves. Friend of the King of Aless. Dragon Slayer Hero.

Elf Mediator. s.e.x King of White City.

Subordinates:

Myla (pursuit), Celia (infuriated), Irijina (fl.u.s.tered), Luna (pursuit)

Gido (light of hope), Pochi (concealment), Leopolt (fl.u.s.tered), Tristan (staff officer B), Agor (urban warfare)

Yakov (pursuit), Mack (military engineer), Jim (negotiating)

Others:

Sekrit (fl.u.s.tered), T-99 (slaughter mode), Brynhildr (ー)

Natia (fl.u.s.tered), Felteris (total pervert), Ijaris (waiting), Yularen (waiting)

Annette (princess of the 105), Piris (relieved), Baroness Escaote (astonished), Seika (astonished), Naesys (sisterly love), Nasis (sisterly love), Busco (prostrating), Ivanna (gamble pastime)

Army – Southern Goldonia

Under Protagonist:

Escort Unit: 50

Infantry: 4300 ⇒ 4100

Cavalry: 500 ⇒ 480

Archers: 600 ⇒ 550

Cannoneers: 360

Bow Cavalry: 7000 ⇒ 6700

Independent Celia Squad: 400 ⇒ 390

Conscripts + Security Unit: 9000 ⇒ 8800

Cannons: 40, Large Cannons: 21, Dwarven Cannons: 15, Field Artillery: 15, Chariots: 35

————————————————————————————————

Reinforcements / Allied Forces

105 Army Corps: 3300 ⇒ 3100

Fleet

Battles.h.i.+p Suvorov, Battles.h.i.+p Aless of Aless, and others: All grounded.

Transport s.h.i.+ps: 20

————————————————————————————————

Ally Forces: Royal Army: 40 000 ⇒ 38 000

Conscripts: 50 000 ⇒ 45 000

Enemy Force: Regular Soldiers: 30 000?? ⇒ 20 000

Conscripts: 95 000? ⇒ 40 000

Cavalry Army: 20 000?? ⇒ 10 000??

a.s.sets: -10 000 gold

s.e.xual Partners: 794, children who have been born: 69 + 567

Current Location: Tortoent