Chapter 172: Winter War in the Capital ② Sinking in Hellfire (1/2)

A Few Hours Ago, Hardlett Residence.

「Ununu…… to think I’d get drunk from such a measly amount, I still have a long ways to go……」

「Don’t be ridiculous, hurry and drink some water.」

After Irijina returned home, Dorothea hands her a cup filled with water, but Irijina takes the pitcher and drinks directly out of there instead.

「It’s not like I was so drunk I couldn’t stand! He could have taken me with him!!」

「Geez! It might have been different if you got drunk at the party, but he couldn’t just enter with an escort who is already red in the face!」

「I didn’t think they would be that strict.」

The alcohol Irijina chugged like it was water in the carriage were all expensive high-class products, each of them way more than the monthly income of a commoner, not to mention many of them were the kind of alcohol you would normally enjoy sparingly in a glass by smelling the fragrance and sipping lightly.

「Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now. I’ll just wait and eat something.」

「Pipi is hungry too~」

「Fine. I’ll make something to eat, just wait here please…… Alice-san too, please sit on the sofa instead of going to the corner.」

Lying flat on the room’s sofa in the character ‘大’ is the large Irijina and Pipi is on top doing the same.

On the other hand, the obedient Alice has come to the capital for the first time and is more timid in an environment with nothing and nobody she’s familiar with.

Besides the times she plays with her ass, the girl is rather bashful and reserved.

「Mamaa~ snack~」「Mamaa~ pee~」「Mamaa~ sleepy~ 」

As Dorothea moves to the kitchen, some children who are still quite young follow behind her in a row.

If Nonna were here, she would probably scream something like “Is this an orphanage!? Please use better judgement”, however the family members here, Irijina and Pipi, don’t really stress about these little details. While waiting for the food to come out, Irijina is killing time by using the bounciness of the sofa to bounce Pipi up and down. Pipi laughs, making poses in midair every time she’s sent up.

The two girls jostle with one another and enjoy themselves despite Pipi’s underwear being exposed for everyone to see.

「Uu…… panties……」

「Come on Kroll, this isn’t the place to get turned on, help out why don’t you! Add some more charcoal to the fire and go fetch some water.」

「Okaaay.」

Even though Kroll has buffed up, Dorothea still thinks of him as one of her sons.

Having shown an embarrassing side of himself to his mother, the man slumps his shoulders and walks towards the well in the courtyard.

When Kroll filled the bucket of the well with water, a man called out to him.

「Sorry to trouble you this evening! I would like to meet with Lord Hardlett!」

The head of the house had taken Mel and Leah to a party so this probably wasn’t a guest who made a proper appointment.

In that case, Kroll determined that it wouldn’t matter if he replied in his master’s stead.

「May I know who is asking?」

「We are members of the palace guards! We would like to have an audience with Lord Hardlett urgently.」

In front of him are several carriages and about 50 armed men from the palace guards – an abnormal scene which caused him to be suspicious – but because they are palace guards, he couldn’t treat them with disdain.

「Hardlett-sama is currently away on business.」

「What!? ……where did he go?!」

The man is clearly showing how much of a hurry he is in.

And he also forgot to maintain his keigo, raising his voice and shouting instead.

「…… I am just a mere servant so I do not know. He has taken the madam with him too.」

Kroll also thought his behavior was strange and purposely didn’t provide his master’s destination.

Hearing the angry yelling, Pipi popped her head out from the door of the mansion, which Kroll then signalled to with his eyes.

The girl swiftly returned insides.

「When will he be back?」

「I don’t know.」

A brief silence fell on the two individuals, then the palace guards whisper something to each other.

Some people in the neighborhood have already come out to find out what was going on with all the yelling.

Seeing how they were clearly making a scene, the palace guards made a sour expression.

「…… It’s a shame we let the big tiger escape, but there’s no helping it now!」

The man who greeted Kroll unsheathed his sword and everyone behind him also did the same. They must have been prepared for when their disguise failed.

「Kill everyone connected to Hardlett!」

「-gh!?」

Kroll had already partly anticipated this would happen and rolled away to dodge the long sword swung at him, then he closed the door which separated the courtyard with the main street and lowered the bolt. The people in the nearby houses who were peeking all screamed and shut their windows and doors.

They had an extremely good view but they had no reason to get themselves involved.

「Bastard!」

The enemy kicks the door in a hurry, but that’s nowhere near enough to break down the reinforced door.

Even if they detour around, the walls are made of stone and if they wanted to climb up, they would be hit with a spring trap installed by Celia. It wouldn’t be so easy for them to get in.

「Hurry up and get them!」

But the door is not exactly a castle gate.

It wouldn’t hold out for long if several men continuously ram their bodies against it.

With just the bucket in his hands, Kroll couldn’t do anything even if he wanted to.

However at that moment, a shout and loud footsteps can be heard approaching him from inside the mansion.

「Villains-!? You’ll be skewered!!」

Irijina bursts out of the mansion by destroying the door and thrusts out her spear without question.

One of the men who was charging into the door to break it down received a clean strike from the spear through his face and into his head.

「Judgment! Judgment!」

Irijina pulls out her spear by force and then puts her back into consecutive thrusts, piercing another man through the heart and killing him, and then gouging out the abdomen of two others to injure them.

「What’s with this woman!?」「She easily penetrated chainmail!」

Irijina has a considerable amount of brute strength even compared to men, so those thin chainmail armors that the guards were wearing were not enough to block her thrusts.

「Hahahahahaha!! Prepare yourselves!」

Her spear runs through the thigh of another man, and when he falls to the ground, Irijina delivers a thrust to his face to finish him off.

「Tch, change your weapons! One-handed swords put us at a disadvantage!！」

The men let go of the one-handed swords specifically used by the palace guards and then take out spears and bowguns from the carriages.

They must have determined their disguises are meaningless at this point.

「Kroll, go get your sword! While you’re at it, let the children inside run away!」

「Right!」

Irijina takes the door of the mansion she broke herself and uses it in place of a shield, intent on staving off the enemies here.

The unarmed Kroll runs off at lightning speed.

「Shoot her to death through the fence! Use your bowguns to-…… wah!」

Right when the shooter settled his aim on Irijina, an arrow hit him in between his eyebrows.

「W-where did that come from!?」

The answer was Pipi, who climbed on the roof of the mansion.

The distance wasn’t even ten meters and she had the height advantage.

It was hard to believe she would miss her mark.

「Mother!」

「Kroll!? What’s going on?」

「Listen, just hide in the basement! Take everyone with you!」

「B-but we have to protect the mansion……」

In exchange for managing the mansion, the house was given to her to look after, so she immediately thought about how all of them would be chased out if they did something to harm the house.

「Forget about that right now! I will protect it!」

Kroll picks up his sword and heads to the front door.

Dorothea held back the little boy who wanted to chase after him and took everyone down into the basement.

「Soryaa!」

「Guh, you little-!」「This one’s skilled!」

Irijina fends off attacks with the fence while swinging her spear and has already put down a couple more men.

Those who were about to shoot Irijina get taken down by Pipi’s arrows one after the other.

If things continue at this rate, the girls would be able to hold out, but the enemy chose to do something bold.

The horses’ asses were slashed with swords and they were made to charge towards the door.

「Tch!」

Irijina rolls away and dodges the splintering pieces, the carriage is heavily damaged and the horse is dead after getting stabbed by the broken iron fence, but the main entrance was broken down.

「The enemies…… there are 30 left?」

Irijina’s expression becomes gloomy.

She could tell these men weren’t amateurs just from fighting with them.

She somehow managed to push them back with the fence but if they all come flooding in, she wouldn’t be able to withstand all their attacks.

Pipi has also begun to be targeted by bowguns and hasn’t peeked out from on top of the roof.

Because there wasn’t much distance between them, the enemy could also accurately aim at her.

「Irijina-san!」

Kroll rushes out of the mansion with a sword in his hand.

His skills are lacking and he probably won’t provide any help, but the increase in headcount was still appreciated.

「The children are behind us. We’ll protect them to the death!」

「Right!」

「Kill them all!」

The enemy pushes forward all at once.

「Kroll, watch my back!」

Irijina twirls her spear and jumps in the middle of the enemies, using her power to knock away the two at the front with shields. Spinning her extended spear to face upward, she thrusts towards the throat of another enemy, spraying his blood everywhere as the man collapses with a hole in his heck. Then she crouches and takes a low stance, making a low sweep with her spear.

「Uwah!」「Gyaah!」

Two enemies get their legs cut and fall over while another one hops up to avoid the attack, though he becomes unbalanced in doing so.

「There!」

Bringing the spear back, she performs a high-speed triple thrust, accurately piercing the hearts of the three staggering enemies and defeating them instantly.

「I’m not done yet!」

Quick strikes dart towards the face and throat of the enemies – the heavy attack with Irijina’s full force behind it tearing through the shields of the men trying to defend, and penetrating through the chainmail and into their abdomen.

「What is this woman!?」

「She’s got incredible strength! Don’t try to deflect her attacks!」

Irijina runs around the courtyard taking on three to four enemies at a time, but because of the difference in numbers someone is bound to circle around to her back.

「Drop dead!」

A man encroaches behind Irijina as she’s fighting, ready to swing his sword.

「I won’t let you!」

Kroll engages that man.

He takes a swing at the man and his attack hits the man’s shoulders, however with his lack of strength, it bounces off the chainmail. Nevertheless, the sword was able to act as a blunt instrument, causing the man to hold his shoulder and drop his sword.

「Guh!」

「Toryaaa!」

Kroll puts the strength of his entire body behind his horizontal swing and severs the man’s head. A fountain of blood erupts from the newly created opening and the man collapses after desperately trying to stop the bleeding from his neck.

「Haa, haa…… I finished…… one of them.」

「This damn brat!」

As Kroll remains dazed after his first kill, a furious front kick knocks the wind from his lungs and causes him to crumple in pain.

「I’ll kill you!」

The following sword attack was somehow blocked but he couldn’t muster any strength and was pushed down. As the enemy’s sword grinds on his own, the blade slowly gets pushed towards his neck.

「I said I won’t…… die.」

Alma should be waiting for him to return.

So if he dies, the girl will definitely cry her eyes out, and then……

「She will be taken by Aegir-sama!」

An image of his beloved girl getting pounded by his master with a smug look pops into his head.

「I’ll make you forget all about Kroll……」

「Aahn, Aegir-sama! You’re so much bigger than Kroll~!」

His beloved person was being pinned down by the man with bulging muscles and getting rammed with intense thrusts of the man’s hips.

The girl’s small hole, which has only known of Kroll’s tool, is mercilessly being stretched by a dick thicker than his own arm, and that thing pushes up against her stomach from the inside with each thrust.

Eventually, Alma faints from the pleasure and a huge load of semen is pumped inside…….

「As if I’ll let myself die hereee!!」