Chapter 58: Things you can obtain in someone elses territory (21)

What do you mean, you can lend it to me but you won’t?

As I was thinking about this, she held out her finger in front of me.

“It’s been stuck on me since I put it on. Even my father didn’t manage to get it off……”

“”What? Really?”

“Yes. Originally, I thought that this ring was the key to the treasury, and that’s why my brother, the king, should have it…… However, once I tried it on, I couldn’t get it off, so I had to wear it……”

I gently took her hand and tried to remove the ring. Sure enough, as she said, it didn’t falter. It’s as if it’s become one with her finger. Does that mean that she is the only one who can open the other ancient structures? That is, if there is no other ring.

“Do you need it so badly that you look so wistful?”

“No, well……”

As it concerned something left behind by the game administrator, I seemed to have unintentionally made a wistful face.

“I’m going to amputate it as a way of repaying you. I won’t die without a finger.”

Yurasia said flatly and picked up Rosette.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. What the hell are you talking about? You could’ve just helped me directly later, you don’t have to cut your finger.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it is. So don’t be so crazy. Even if I got your finger, that’s a bit……”

“Huh! You don’t need the fingers of a woman who isn’t your type?”

No, I’m not talking about my type; I don’t need your fingers.

She looked at her fingers for a long time. If I leave it as it is, she might really cut her finger, so I divert the conversation.

“Anyway, let’s get moving. We need to find a way out!”

***

After half a day of walking, we finally reached the exit. To our surprise, the exit led to the wall of Bridget’s royal palace. No one seemed to know that the wall was connected to such a secret passage and everyone was astonished by our appearance.

Yurasia and I escaped from the royal palace while fighting the palace guards and ran to the gates of the royal capital. Then we opened the gates and called in the Lunan army. Fortunately, the occupation was going well, as Fihatri and Zint had arrived in front of the royal capital as I had ordered.

My original plan was to enter the castle by pretending to be the army of the Bridget Kingdom, but I guess that was no longer necessary. While I was opening the gates, Yurasia fought against the royal guards, and we were able to bring Lunan’s army into the capital without any problems.

There was no problem in occupying the royal capital. In fact, the capital was practically empty. Even with the palace guards and the royal guard, there were only about a thousand of them. We took over the capital without difficulty and seized the royal palace. All that remained was the final battle.

I suddenly pointed at Yurasia’s hair to welcome the end of the battle in a beautiful way. For the sake of her prestige, I guess.

“Hey, you’re not going out there like that in front of the enemy, are you? Shouldn’t you have a cool look at the end of the battle?”

“What ……? Is there something wrong with me?”

“There’s a mirror in the other room, you might want to check it out.”

Yurasia walked dubiously towards the room I had pointed to and a few moments later.

“What? Kyaaaa!!!”

Naturally, what came back to me was a scream. Her hair was a mess, just like the famous ghosts that pop up on TV. She was beautiful, though.

“What the hell is this……?“

With trembling hands, Yurasia held the comb in front of the mirror and began brushing her hair. But it was a mess. She had always lived with a sword in her hand. The maids must have done all the brushing for her.

“I’m not sure if I can fix it, but I’ll try.”

“Yes, that’s……”

I felt like it was getting rather bad, so I took the comb away from her.

“Intelligence indicates that the King of Bridget will be arriving shortly. We don’t have much time. I’ll take care of it.”

“What? You will?”

She looked at me with an untrustworthy look. Of course, there are maids in this palace but I don’t trust them at all. It’s not impossible that they might try to assassinate Yurasia while brushing her hair.

“Just stay still.”

I gently stroked her head down from top to bottom with the palm of my hand. Her very beautiful hair shimmered in my hand. Then, using a comb, I began to slowly brush it from top to bottom. Her hair, which had been straggling all over the place, began to come together little by little. It would have been best if I could have washed her hair, but since that was not an option, it was best to bundle or braid it.

“I’ll braid it like I always do.”

“Braiding? That’s impossible. Even I might not be able to……do it myself……!”

Well, in my case, it was because of my sister. Thanks to my mother, who was busy with her work, and my sister, who had to take care of me all by herself, I was able to acquire the skills to do my hair. When I was in elementary school, I always had to do my sister’s hair for her.

She was always asking me to do her hair, and she was quite troublesome anyway. My sister is a real pain in the ass. That’s why I was so confident about fixing Yurasia’s hair. I started braiding her hair as hard as I could.

“What do you think?”

“Not bad at all ……but! How many women’s hair have you touched before you became this good?”

She looked at me with suspicious eyes. She seemed to have some kind of strange misunderstanding.

“No, I didn’t. You are the first person outside of my family. There are those who have many women at their beck and call because they are lords, but not me. I’m the kind of guy who values love.”

“……What?”

She looked at me in disbelief. What the hell is wrong with my image?

“Liar.”

“It’s true.”

“What kind of love is that?”

“What kind of love is…….The kind that makes you throb just thinking about it, whether you’re together or not?”

“Oh…….You’re that pure?”

“Yes. Do you really think you can date and marry anyone?”

“No, of course not!”

“Then why don’t you take off your princess face and fall in love? If you stay in Roserun forever, you’ll end up in a political marriage with some unknown noble or royal family from another country.”

“I don’t want to do that. If that happens, I’ll kill myself on my wedding night after cutting off the head of the man I’m marrying!”

Suicide? Isn’t that a bit extreme?

“No, you should have refused political marriage from the beginning. If that doesn’t work, you can run away!”

“Are you saying that I should cut and run?”

Of course not, I meant run away before you marry. You know that, don’t you, woman?

“You want a fight?”

“Heh heh heh.”

“Didn’t you just laugh ……? You laughed like you were happy!”

“……What are you talking about? I’m not laughing.”

In an instant she returned to her princess face.

* * *

All Ganev could do was retreat while protecting Bautor. If he was not careful, he could be surrounded by tens of thousands of enemy soldiers and lose his life. This was no time to be fighting the enemy. Therefore, he had to concentrate only on breaking through the siege.

Bautor also had no choice but to give the order to retreat in order to save his life in the face of the tragic outcome. The number of soldiers who fled with him was less than 3,000. By all accounts, it was impossible to continue the war. The situation was a sure sign that there was no way to go to another occupied territory with such troops. Therefore, the retreat destination this time was their country, the Bridget Kingdom.

“……retreat. I’m going to go back to my kingdom and start over. I’ll never forget what happened this time. Never……!”

Bautor gritted his teeth and fled to his own country. Naturally, the Royal Army of Roserun pursued him. After such a chase, the army of the Bridget Kingdom barely managed to cross the border. This was only possible because of Ganev’s presence.

Even the Roserun army, who had been chasing them so persistently, did not cross the border as expected. Bautor snickered as he looked at the enemy.

“They’re not much to look at. They’re so afraid of stepping on Bridget’s land that they can’t even cross the border! Kuh-ha-ha!”

Bautor still believed that the defeat was caused by their own blunders, not that the enemy was superior! So, with his ego as high as ever, he thought that he could reoccupy Roserun if he was careful.

“Isn’t that right, soldiers?”

However, the soldiers had different ideas. In particular, they did not want to see Lunan’s reinforcements, who destroyed them at every turn. The soldiers, who had been filling their stomachs with only water, did not agree with Bautor.

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you cheering?”

Angry, Bautor slashed the soldier next to him.

“We can’t do anything if we’re losing our energy! Come on, let’s have a cheer!”

Seeing this, the soldiers around him began to cheer forcibly, not wanting to die. But that was the worst thing he could do. His command, which had been maintained by his charisma, plummeted. His command, which had reached 97, dropped below 70. Of course, he was unaware of this. He led his soldiers in such a coercive manner that they arrived at the border territory and starved.

“Ganev, we’re going back to Brosion, I’m going to prepare the army and then I’m going to kill the enemy.”

“Of course, Your Majesty! This enemy must be defeated!”

Ganev’s eyes blazed, too. This time, he was determined to finish it by cutting off my head immediately. As they did so, Bautor and Ganev crossed the various territories and came within sight of the royal city of Brosion. However, the gates of the royal capital were enveloped in silence. Seeing this, Isenbahan exclaimed in surprise.

“How dare no one greet His Majesty on his return?”

It was only natural that all the nobles in the royal capital as well as the attendants and maids of the royal castle would greet the king. When they were in the nearby territory, they sent a message beforehand. As it was not a war to be won, it was natural for everyone to greet the king, even if it was not a grand welcome.

This was nothing but a challenge to the royal authority. Bautor approached the castle gate, his face red with indignation. For some reason, there were no guards or even gatekeepers at the huge gates of Brosion. There was no sign of life on the main streets, and no one was walking around in the royal city. Looking around at the quiet city, the soldiers who had entered tilted their heads. The commanders did the same.

“What the hell is this……?”

Isenbahan also murmured with a doubtful look on his face. As they all entered the capital with such doubts, the gates suddenly began to close. At the same time, soldiers who had been hiding in the alleyways came running out from everywhere. These soldiers were not from Bridget’s army. What suddenly appeared in the middle of the capital was Lunan’s military uniform.

“Why are you here……? How the hell did you get here!?”

Bautor clammed up at the unbelievable situation. Naturally, Erhin was at the head of the Lunan Kingdom army.

“This was the plan all along. From the moment you invaded Roserun! I will have your head for the slaughter Bridget committed!”

Erhin said and dismounted from his horse. He left the soldiers behind and walked alone to the king.

“You ……! You’re coming at me yourself. You look like you want to die. Okay, I’ll play along!”

Erhin’s face was full of confidence as Ganev stepped forward.

* * *

He’s a really disgusting man but this is the end. The gates of the castle were closed and they were surrounded by soldiers. There was no chance of escape. Even Ganev couldn’t fight against more than 20,000 soldiers in a completely closed castle. To make sure that no one would be able to escape using the castle walls, archers were placed on the walls without any gaps.

It was only in this situation that I walked in front of him for the experiment. The situation itself was already overwhelmingly favorable and even if my experiment failed, it wouldn’t affect many people, so I thought I’d try using [True Crush].

It would be best if I kill him with my own hands and end the war. He is a warlord with 98 martial force, if I kill him directly the experience I gain will be substantial. It’s a good chance to level up so I didn’t hesitate.

[Do you want to use True Crush?]

I used [True Crush] and then threw Daitouren at Ganev. As usual, Daitouren flew toward Ganev, emitting a white light. There has been no change at all so far. I had no idea how to neutralize my opponent’s skills.

“This skill again? You’re wasting your time! It doesn’t work on me!”

Ganev swung the sword using his own skill, the [Blade of Light], as a blue streak appeared on his face.

“Everyone, run to the sides!”

I immediately ordered the soldiers. There was no need for them all to be killed anywhere within the range of that skill.  The [Blade of Light] is an S-class skill with a power of 103. [Crush] can kill opponents with up to +5 martial force. I could have killed Ganev, who had 98 martial force, but I couldn’t because of this skill.

What in the world has changed? It was an appalling situation, but I couldn’t just sit there dumbfounded. Ganev was alive and well, if this continues, I have no choice but to assault him with the entire army and kill him. With that in mind, I was about to set up a siege again, but then! A sword suddenly appeared above my head. And that sword flew towards Ganev.

It was so fast that he could not react. The sword, glowing with white light, went straight through Ganev’s body! As soon as it pierced through, a blast of white light erupted, and even the enemy soldiers in the vicinity were completely engulfed and exploded. An incredibly powerful skill!

As the white light disappeared, Ganev pointed at me and collapsed, not moving any further. He was dead. The strongest enemy in this battle was dead! And it was all too easy with [True Crush].

In other words, [True Crush] can kill even if the enemy uses a skill! I ran over to the sword stuck in the ground.

[Shoutouren]

[Divine sword]

Shoutouren?

A surprising sword name. I immediately tried to grab the sword, but Shoutouren disappeared just before my hand touched it. So does that mean that Shoutouren will appear as an auxiliary effect when [Crush] fails? In other words, [True Crush] is a joint attack by Daitouren and Shoutouren?

Does that mean that somewhere on the continent, the real Shoutouren is also lying dormant? If so, I want to get my hands on it. Because there might be some bonus, if I collect all three divine swords, I’ll become even stronger!

“You think you can stop me? Impossible! I am the master of this continent!”

That’s when the Bridget King shouted at me. A man I don’t even see, just a butcher, nothing more, nothing less.