Chapter 203.3 |
“I have found out as well, Lord Welner.”
“Found out? What?”
At the same time as he said those words, the three guards and Welner quickly switched positions in their clash, and Welner’s spear pierced one of them in the leg, while blood spurted from Welner’s shoulder from one of the guard’s attacks. Welner frowned a bit from the pain. Leppe then followed up with a few words.
“Regarding the oracle to Her Highness, Laura.”
“What?”
Welner shouted out. The guards tried to cut at him from both sides, but ironically, both of them were swinging so forcefully that their attack created an opening.
Welner quickly jumped forward to avoid their attacks. He then turned around using one of his legs as an axis, and used the momentum to stab the third guard on the shoulder.
He quickly moved away after delivering the attack but one of the guards still managed to graze his shoulder. Welner was able to escape, but barely managed to regain his bearings.
He then spat out some blood mixed with spit, which was from unconsciously biting his lip.
“So what?” (Welner)
Leppe replied, while giving Welner an unwavering look, “The existence of the heroes and the resurrection of the Demon King were both facts, were they not? If that is the case, then it is also a definite fact that His Highness the Prince will be exalted to a better position than the saint even if they were both supporting said hero because of their position.”
One of the guards tried to cut Welner again, but he blocked the attack with the hilt of his spear and thrusted the tip into the other. Realizing that the response from the attack was shallow, Welner re-positioned further back while cleaving his spear to the side to deflect an incoming attack.
Seeing that Welner had moved backward to ensure distance and safety, Leppe continued in a rather matter-of-fact tone.
“In order for the son of Her Highness Laura, the saint, to attain a high position, the people of the current royal family are in the way. Personally, I think those people are excellent, but I don’t care about their talents.”
“Is that your reason for doing all this…!”
Welner barely responded as he endured a dull ache from the wound in his shoulder. In fact, it was a response that Welner did not expect.
Welner initially thought that Leppe was one of those apocalyptic believers, but in fact he was a fanatic in an opposite direction, a fanatic who held God in absolute esteem.
Nevertheless, Welner could not help but understand one aspect of the reason.
From childhood, Leppe had most likely been trained to believe in God’s existence. Later, he found out that the magic he had thought was a miracle of God was, in fact, originated from the Demon King. For him to continue in believing the existence of God, Leppe may have been forced to cling to the oracle as evidence of God’s existence.
Welner was convinced that Leppe had a few strings loose in his mind, but this was probably because Welner had a cold view of religion and the existence of God. Of course, there was no way for Welner to agree with any of Leppe’s actions in the first place after he had done all this.
“If that was your aim, why are you going after Lily?”
“I feel sorry for the Hero and Miss Lily, but the more tragic the story ends, the more the common people will be entertained.”
“What are you…?”
Leppe lightly shrugged his shoulders and continued his words with his usual expression.
“A hero whose close friends and family suffered tragic consequences, and a saint who devoted herself to supporting that wounded hero. It is only natural that that saint’s son would be better respected by the people.”
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
It was rare for Welner to show such a look of disgust towards someone. But Leppe spoke to Welner with an expression of pity for those with poor understanding.
“You must have noticed, Sir. There is an aspect of truth to Coffin Sarg’s assertion. Humans, even at this critical stage, still seek power struggles and self-interest, and are not willing to cooperate with one another.”
“So what?”
“I don’t want the son of the saint Laura-sama to see such greedy people. Don’t you think it’s in the world’s best interest to get rid of such filthy people as nobles and royalty, even with the help of the Demon Army?”
“That’s a stupid assertion!”
Welner, who had no interest in listening to distorted sermons, furiously challenged the three guards.
With a series of sharp thrusts, Welner penetrated one of the guards’ shields, pierced his arm and kicked him away.
Without a moment’s pause, Welner sharply thrust his spear at another guard coming from the left. The tip of the spear grazed the shield and was sucked into the chest of the other guard.
Welner thought that he had inflicted a serious wound, and just as he thought so, the light of Leppe’s healing magic flashed and the wound vanished.
“Are you forgetting that I am still a High Priest?”
“I wish I had forgotten.”
Leppe’s matter-of-fact tone was met with resentment from Welner, who continued to attack the guards.
The sound of metal on metal echoed through the tunnel along with the sound of their steps as they clashed.
Welner was accumulating damage even from a graze, while on the guards’ side, Leppe’s healing quickly recovered any serious wounds they received.
Soon, Welner’s movements clearly started to deteriorate. He must have been fatigued just by chasing them this far to begin with. Then, he was immediately engaged in a three-on-one combat, and the wounds were accumulating on his side only. There was no doubt that he was at an overwhelming disadvantage.
That was why Leppe had his doubts. He knew that Welner was up to something, but he did not know what.
Just as Leppe was beginning to grow impatient inside, Knott and Lily suddenly felt a strange presence, and at the same time, a voice called out from behind Leppe.
“It’s late, so I came to check on you. What’s this all about?”
With a voice that sounded like a young woman, a being in strangely new priestess clothes came out behind Leppe.
Its face was obscured by a hood of cloth, but the reason Knott and Lily’s faces twitched was probably due to the presence of countless insect-type magic beasts writhing behind the figure.
“I’m sorry, but this is a somewhat unexpected situation.”
Leppe responded in an apologetic voice, not giving a second thought to such a crowd of magic beasts.
The figure replied in a bored tone, “In this case, I guess, I will lend you a hand.”
The next moment she said this, a chain of light wrapped around Welner’s entire body, restraining his movements.
Welner, whose movements had been slowed by a debuff that weakened him, barely managed to parry the blow from one of the guards with both hands on the hilt of his spear, but there was no way to avoid the sword thrust from the other one. The tip of the sword bit right into his side.
If the third guard had also attacked Welner here, it would have been the end of the story. But here was the problem with the cursed weapons. The third guard did not attack Welner, but the guard with whom Welner was in a power struggle.
Welner barely managed to keep his distance as he kicked the guard who was slashed from behind.
“Ugh…”
“Welner-sama!”
Lily, who seemed to have recovered from the effect of the paralyzing poison, shouted as she heard Welner’s pained voice, but neither of them could do anything. The person dressed in the priestess’s clothes chanted more incantations, creating a storm that engulfed Welner, the three guards who were attacking him, as well as the passageway.
The next moment, the stone ceiling collapsed. The ceiling, which had originally deteriorated, was hit by a large magic spell, and finally collapsed. It sounded as if Welner’s voice could be heard with the sound of the crumbling debris, but it may have just been an illusion. The crashing sound soon reverberated throughout the underground tunnel.
For a moment, they could see sunlight shining through the collapsing ceiling, but the next moment, dust and dirt enveloped Leppe and the others as well.
“You’ve done it again in a very flashy way, haven’t you?”
“It’s your fault for being so slow.”
The priestess responded in a bored tone to Leppe’s comment.
There was now a pile of rubble and sand in front of them along with a cloud of dust and smoke.
Staring at the sight of an arm sticking out of the sand and soil, Knott asked, “Is Welner dead?”
“Even if he is alive now, he’s still under the rubble and wounded. I don’t think he will survive for long…”
“If you are concerned, have the guards there check him out. These men have been drugged, so they can’t really understand specific commands.”
The priestess seemed uninterested in Leppe’s statement, who answered as if he too was concerned about something. In fact, the guards didn’t seem to be perturbed by the presence of the countless insect-type magic beasts behind them. The priestess’s hooded face turned toward Lily, who was stunned.
“Is that… the sister of the one you call the hero?”
“Yes, it seems so.”
“Then I will take care of her. Four guards should be enough to clear the debris away and take care of that guy if he somehow managed to survive. Let’s go, shall we?”
The insects, who were larger than a grown man, took away the freedom from Lily’s body, as they replaced the guards. It was only then that Lily finally came to her senses from what had happened before her and shouted.
“Welner-sama, Welner-sama!”
“Yes. I’ll have them retrieve Welner’s body just in case.”
“Suit yourself.”
“Welner-sama!”
No one seemed bothered by Lily’s plaintive voice. Leppe ordered the guards to clear away the debris and kill Welner if he somehow managed to survive. After that, the group, leaving behind four guards, disappeared into the depths of the tunnel, surrounded by many insects.