「Fuh…」
『We won』
Fran, who had released her sword god transformation, recovered the Count who was on one knee. Apparently, even though he was in a daze, he had seen the scene where Fran had defeated the assailants. Rather, he was so surprised by that scene that he lost consciousness for a moment.
Immediately after he recovered, he stared at Fran. The look on his face was not one of questioning, but one of pure admiration and surprise.
「Oi Oi Oi! What the hell was that?」
「Nn?」
「I don't know what happened, but I know something incredible happened!」
Apparently, thanks to the Count's dazed state, our sword god transformation has not been discovered by him.
「As expected of Black Lightning Princes…The one that His Majesty the Beast King favourite. No, more than that now is――」
「Guh!」
Interrupting the Count's words, Fran holds me up.
「There's more!」
There was still signs of battle in the house. The sound of broken windows and magical explosions echoed in the air.
「――」
「Count, go down」
「I can still fight! Damn, are you guys safe!」
10 minutes later
She had repelled the assailants twice and was finally on her way to rescue the others. The aftereffects of the sword god transformation had degraded her fighting strength, but she had managed to win because there was only one opponent and we were two.
「This room!」
「Nn」
We went to Velmeria's room. There was no sign of a battle from inside, but there was also no sign of Velmeria and the others.
「Are you safe!」
「Hey! Frederick」
The room was in a horrible mess. The remains of beds and bookshelves were scattered around, and there were deep scars on the walls and ceiling. Two dead bodies of the assailants were among them. And Frederick was lying on the floor.
His body was bleeding profusely, and he had a sword stuck in his stomach and back. The swords were blocking his way, so he was lying on his side in a slightly distorted position.
『Greater Heal!』
「Hang on there」
It seems that we make it just in time. The recovery spell worked. Fran hurriedly approached Frederick and pulled the sword out of his body at once. Oh, it's just a normal sword. It's not a pseudo fanatic sword.
「Gaaah!」
The intense pain from the sword being pulled out awakens Frederick, but it's hard for him to recover when it's still stuck in him. Sorry, but I can't deny that Fran was a little rough.
We used more recovery magic and succeeded in rescuing Frederick. However, Frederick, who must have lost his strength due to the loss of blood, forced himself to stood up and headed for the window.
「Don't, take a rest」
「Velmeria…! was kidnapped!」
「What! What do you mean?」
「Even thought I’m with her…it's inexcusable」
To my surprise, one of the attackers had knocked Velmeria unconscious and escaped through the window. I thought their goal was to kill the Count, but were we wrong? No, they failed to do that, so they switched their goal? At any rate, it seemed that it would be difficult to track them down, since Velmeria had been taken more than ten minutes ago.
『If Urushi returns… No, maybe Urushi would have noticed it in the first place. Let's wait for him』
「…N」
I don't think we can catch up with them even if we recklessly chase them. Besides, there are still enemies left.
「…First lets eliminate the enemy around the premises」
「Your Excellency! But…」
「I will not leave my men to die in vain for the sake of my daughter!」
「Sh*t! It's just like before…」
Half an Hour after we saved Frederick.
They had caused great damage to the soldiers in the villa, but we managed to defeat the assailants.
There were 25 assailants in total. The Count had more than forty victims, including his servants. There were probably about fifteen injured. Not a single person was unharmed. It seemed that the reason for the increase in damage was that the first magic attack had burned down the soldiers' quarters next to the house.
Colbert is also among the injured. He, too, was on the verge of death, but was able to survive. Had it been a little later, he would have lost his left leg. I'm glad we were able to take care of him in time.
「…It seems I need to train my martial arts further…」
Even Dimitris style martial arts techniques were blocked by the effects of the pseudo fanatic sword, but he defeated three of them by himself, which is amazing. Colbert looks frustrated. Seeing the changed appearance of his colleagues make his feelings even stronger. He gritted his teeth and endured the rage.
「…Who in the world, would do such a thing!…」
「I have many guess, but…」
Marquis Ashtner is the most suspicious one, but there is no evidence. I think we should just punch him in the face, but as long as we tried move our soldiers around the capital, we can't afford to be vague about the evidence. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure they are planning to revolt.
When Frederick and Colbert examined some of them, they found that they had been given large doses of narcotics, just like Hamuls and Gordon.
The narcotics is said to have the effect of stimulating the mind of the person who ingests it and depriving them of their ability to think, as well as making it easier for them to be influenced with magic. Therefore, it is said to be very useful for brainwashing using magic.
「This guy…」
Colbert, who was checking the body of the fifth assailants, suddenly tilted his head. Then he stared at the face of the assailants. That's the swordsman that Fran defeated first, isn't it?
「What's wrong?」
「Miss Fran, do you recognize this guy?」
「Nn. defeated him」
「No, not about it…Oh yes! He is an adventurer!」
It seems that he was a rank C adventurer. So, they were manipulating high-ranking adventurers. There were a few other adventurers that Colbert recognized. All of them were rank C or rank B adventurers, as Colbert remembered.
Colbert, too, is tilting his head in front of the mysterious sword that was stuck in the attacker.
「What the hell is this sword…you know it Frederick?」
「Fran, do you still have that thing?」
「Nn」
「It's from the magic sword that attacked the inn. You'll never mistake this unpleasant looking hand cover for anything else」
Frederick explained to Colbert the similarities between the magic sword that seems to have been controlling Gordon with the magic sword that was stuck in the assailants this time.
「So you're saying that this magic sword has its own will and was controlling these guys?」
「That's a possibility……It's hard to tell because the magic sword I saw at the inn was half destroyed, but I think it was a long sword, and it can freely move itself」
「A sword that can move on its own? But this sword doesn't seem to be moving」
「I guess that means they're not exactly the same thing. Its power feels so much weaker」
As we were talking, there was a sign of Urushi returns to the residence. Now we will be able to track down Velmeria.
「Urushi is back」
「Is that so!」
It was Frederick, the one who shout a cheer when he heard those words, not the Count.
