The fact that I didn’t scream was purely due to the fact that I had clenched my jaw so hard that my molars were sinking in.
If it weren’t for the Sacred Spirit holding me up, I would have passed out or bitten my tongue long ago.
And then.
It’s coming.
Something.
In the darkness, it reached out its hand towards me, and I rolled my body sideways in fear.
-Snarl!
I can’t tell what passed by.
All I know is that I felt a strong threat and instinctively rolled my body.
Something passed by where I was standing. I don’t know what it was, but if it hit me, it would have been dangerous.
One thing is certain.
Charlotte is attacking me.
“Your Highness!”
In response to the laughter, Saviolin Turner, who had rushed in a moment, had already arrived at the instrument storage.
“Why are you here…?”
As my eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, I could see the figure of Saviolin Turner and the figure of the presence staring at me from the darkness more clearly. After being surprised by my presence for a moment, Saviolin Turner became bewildered while looking at something in front of her.
“Uh, how did……. you end up like this…….”
It was still staring at me with an eerie smile on its face. Was Charlotte’s condition even worse than before?
“Back off. I’ll ask questions later.”
Saviolin Turner, as if questioning the situation could wait, she pulled me away.
“Do not move away from me. You will die.”
Only then could I see what had attacked me.
Darkness, refined to a blade as if it were alive, shooting out.
-Clang! Clang!
She drew her sword in a flash, activating her Aura Blade to meet the onrushing darkness.
With a roar, the shadows shattered into pieces in the air.
“Your Highness! You must regain your sanity!”
“… Hehe. Hehehehe.”
It did not respond to Turner’s words.
-Crumble
The darkness seethed, and the blade was once again solidified, rushing towards her.
Saviolin Turner stood in front of me, parrying the shadow’s blade with her own.
She was effortlessly deflecting the blades that were coming from all four or five directions at once. The pressure I felt on my skin when the sword and shadow clashed was a testament to the power behind it.
She was manipulating the darkness, or the shadow.
That was Charlotte’s ability.
Charlotte’s ability was as terrifyingly powerful as it was eerie.
However, Turner had the upper hand. All attacks were blocked, and she even had room to spare.
However, she could not hurt Charlotte.
In this situation, she could only focus on defense since she couldn’t attack.
But she had to subdue her.
She approached Charlotte step by step, breaking through the shadowy blades.
She reached her.
Just as Saviolin Turner was about to grab Charlotte’s neck while on her knees.
Flash!
In a terrifying flash of lightning outside the window, Charlotte disappeared without a trace.
“…Damn it.”
She stared at the spot where Charlotte had vanished, her expression frozen.
It was a deadly attack that an ordinary person would have died from hundreds of times. If it were me, I wouldn’t have lasted three rounds.
She turned around and looked at me.
Clear anger and depression were burning in her eyes.
Smack!
“Ugh!”
She grabbed my neck and pushed me against the wall.
“You worthless piece of trash! Why didn’t you leave? Did you really think you could be of any help to the lady here? Foolish man! If I hadn’t come, you would already be dead! Don’t you value your life?”
She was venting her honest anger as if she could kill me right away. She pointed her sword at my neck.
“There are things in this world that you shouldn’t know or see. You ignored the lady’s consideration and my consideration. You must pay for that sin with your life.”
She was ready to thrust her sword into me and kill me on the spot.
Charlotte looked like a demon, and it would be a huge scandal if the fact that the heir to the throne was in such a state became known to the world. The story that she was kidnapped and cursed in the demon castle would spread. And, the truth wouldn’t be much different. It couldn’t be a supernatural ability. It was clear that the Demon King had done something to Charlotte, whether she knew it or not.
That’s why the royal family kept it a secret. There was no reason for me, who confirmed it with my own eyes, to live.
Even though death was imminent, strangely, I wasn’t afraid. Charlotte’s appearance just now was more terrifying than Saviolin Turner’s piercing gaze.
“Of course, my life is not insignificant.”
“What?”
My life is not insignificant.
I don’t want to die.
But I was more afraid that Charlotte wouldn’t be able to return to her former self.
“I’m only here because Charlotte’s life is as important to me as my own, and I’m here because I think I can do something about it.”
“You arrogant fool. You overestimate your abilities.”
Her cold, piercing gaze bore into me.
“It’s not arrogance.”
“Then what the hell is this presumptuous behavior of yours if not arrogance!”
“It’s desperation.”
Charlotte’s life.
That was already a reason in itself for me.
That’s why I entered the Spring Palace against the orders of the princess and the Shanapell knight commander, only with a strange sense of anxiety.
It was something that I had saved, the first time I risked my life.
I can’t bear to see the fruit of my labor, Charlotte’s life, vanish in vain.
She looks into my eyes, trying to detect any suspicion, arrogance, or childishness mixed with my gaze.
Her sword aimed at my neck trembled.
How long has it been?
Her sword cautiously descended.
Releasing my collar, she still glared at me.
“Your fate will be decided tomorrow when the day breaks.”
But her eyes held a gaze of confidence that I would not be subjected to severe punishment.
“May I ask what is going on?”
“No one knows.”
“…No one knows?”
“No one knows what’s going on. Why Her Majesty has gained such power, and why she’s being consumed by it. Why it takes over her body at night.”
Turner’s despairing expression perfectly represented the current state of the royal family’s mind.
“No one knows for sure. We can only speculate that something happened to Her Majesty at the Demon Castle.”
She grabbed onto my shoulder, peering into the darkness.
“But one thing is certain: the situation has gotten worse. Don’t leave my side. ‘It’, which has taken over Her Majesty’s body, moves through the darkness. It appears from the front and the back, even from the ceiling.”
She started revealing what she knew, as if she couldn’t hide it any longer.
“It suddenly appeared in front of me, moving through the darkness.”
That’s why it’s useless to tie Charlotte up or keep an eye on her. ‘It’ will disappear suddenly.
So she illuminated the entire palace to get rid of the darkness. If there is no darkness, ‘It’ cannot move through it.
Saviolin Turner continued to illuminate the palace at night after seeing that the method worked.
But that method has now been compromised.
‘It’ even puts out the magic lamps now.
Nighttime is ‘its’ time.
“Does this happen every night?”
“Not every night, but the frequency is increasing. And this is the first time it has extinguished all the lamps. Also, Her Majesty’s eyes… the last time I saw them, one of them was clearly different…”
Her eyes were shaking with frustration and injustice at this situation.
“Her aggression is getting stronger. At first, she was wandering around the palace like she had a nightmare, but lately…”
She trailed off.
It seemed like she couldn’t bring herself to mention the murder case.
“Anyway, you have to leave the palace. It’s dangerous here. The punishment that will be inflicted on you is only possible while you’re still alive. If you continue to be insolent, I will truly cut your throat this time.”
“I understand.”
Saviolin Turner cautiously took one step after another, maximizing the sensitivity of her whole body.
In the darkness, she enhanced her senses to pierce through it. She could distinguish the darkness more accurately than ordinary humans. The lightning that obstructed her vision had also become less frequent now.
-Bang!
Only the soft sound of rain echoed through the corridors of the Spring Palace, as Turner moved cautiously. We had to go down to the hall on the first floor and leave the palace. Then she would try to get rid of it once I was out.
“What are you going to do?”
“I have to subdue her. That’s what I’ve been doing so far.”
She had no choice but to use violent means to subdue it.
She might have knocked her out before it could escape into the darkness.
Up until now, that might have been the only way.
Based on her reaction and my instinctual warning, there was only one conclusion.
Today is a turning point.
The eye that was said to have only been affecting one side was now fully affecting both sides.
The power that was consuming Charlotte had become even stronger today.
Is Turner going to fail to subdue Charlotte and end up dying by her in the end?
Then, how can I possibly prevent that?
The Demon King is involved. Charlotte’s power is a byproduct of that.
That’s all I know.
Some kind of scheme related to the Demon King.
But now was not the time to ponder on that.
Turner didn’t move rashly. She carefully moved forward, being mindful of every direction.
Even though we weren’t far from the entrance to the palace.
-clang! Kwak!
The reason Turner couldn’t let her guard down was because of the shadowy blades flying like daggers from the darkness. The sudden black blades were aimed at both me and Turner.
She blocked all of them alone.
“Damn it….”
In the darkness, I saw her clenching her right hand into a fist in frustration.
Standing before the stairs leading to the first floor, Turner gritted her teeth at the entrance to the giant hall beyond.
The entrance to the giant palace was blocked by a black barrier.
More accurately, it was covered by a dense darkness.
And in front of the darkness, Charlotte, who was still smiling chillingly, was watching over us.
“Of course, looks like she doesn’t plan on letting you out, let alone both of us.”
“….That seems to be the case.”
She was standing in front of the entrance, as if telling us to come closer if we dared, without even flinching.
A being that can move through the darkness and attack us with it.
In this place full of darkness, the two of us may just be toys.
The opponent may be far away, but they could appear right in front of us through the darkness.
“Obviously, I was able to subdue her earlier without difficulty. I just got a little injured because I let my guard down.”
If it was just a minor injury, she wouldn’t have mentioned it.
That’s why it’s probably not a minor injury.
“….”
“But I don’t know what that thing is, so I can’t be sure we’ll be able to subdue it safely this time.”
The strongest in the continent was calmly considering the possibility of defeat.
The unknown opponent has the optimal battlefield and environment. And as of today, its power has become even stronger.
But Saviolin Turner, who has to face it, hasn’t had more than six days of rest and hasn’t been properly treated for her injuries.
Turner’s condition was at its worst.
But even if it was due to her poor condition, a defeat was still a defeat.
If she dies, it’s all over. There’s no point in saying things like “if she was in her best condition, she could have subdued her easily.”
No way. Is it Saviolin Turner who’s going to die today, not Charlotte?
Is my intuition warning me not about Charlotte, but about Turner’s life being in danger?
Saviolin Turner is one of the main characters in the latter half.
If she dies, it will also be a turning point in history. In a very negative direction.
But even if Saviolin Turner dies today, it does not mean Charlotte can survive.
If Charlotte kills Saviolin Turner today and has such a dangerous power that cannot be controlled, even if she wields her power as a princess, she will have to be dealt with immediately.
Both Saviolin Turner and Charlotte will die.
Then soon, I will also die today.
There is only one variable, me.
I have to do something about this situation.
But in these two fights, I was too small of a variable.
“Reinhardt, I heard you’ve done Magic Body Enhancement on your own.”
“Yes.”
I cannot say that it will be useful in actual combat.
“I will fight to protect you, but I cannot guarantee that I will be able to protect you. Remember that my priorities are first the lady, then me, and lastly you.”
She handed me her sword.
“That shadow cannot be dealt with if it is not a power imbued with magic. You may not be able to imbue magic in the sword, but you can at least deflect it with this sword.”
It seemed she wanted to fight with the Aura Sword.
Saviolin Turner’s sword.
It’s not a holy relic, but one of the national treasures of the empire.
The Gale Sword, Tempesta.
The sword that Ludwig, the man who wielded Alsbringer, had claimed as Turner’s relic and made his second sword, was before me.
“No thanks.”
Summoning Aura Sword will consume a lot of energy.
I shouldn’t do anything that could worsen Turner’s condition.
“I told you. I might not be able to protect you…”
-Swish-
I summoned it.
“I have a sword of my own.”
“Soul Bound…?”
She opened her eyes wide at the sword with a white blade in my hand.
“This… this is…! How did you get this!”
She was looking at Tiamata, the artifact of Towan, in my hand with astonishment.
“Let’s talk about it later.”
I didn’t expect to use it here.
Now, I have to face my first battle using Tiamata.
Not against a bandit, not against a monster, not against a villain who deserves to die.
But against my first friend.
I have to face Charlotte in a real battle.
For now, she pushed all her doubts aside.
“… Alright.”
Both she and I were ultimately people who understood the importance of the situation.
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