Side Story Chapter 285

“Take some of the Vaikals with you,” Arash said to Kireua before he went through the teleportation gate.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

“What are Vaikals?”

“You and I both believe that Duke Killian will start something, right? Then it’ll most likely be right after you teleport because that will be your most vulnerable moment.”

“So these Vaikals will protect me in case the Killian family attacks me? What in the world are they?” Kireua asked.

“They’re golems.”

“What? Golems?”

“Yes; Her Majesty will explain the details. In fact, she’s testing them out right now, but even she and I can’t fathom their exact strength.” Arash shrugged.

“In other words, they’re going to be my guards on their trial run. Are these golems reliable? They’re just monsters made by mages, aren’t they...?”

“You have to trust them even if it bothers you. Should they fail to meet our expectations, I’ll have to change my plans entirely.”

“Alright,” Kireua agreed with a nod. “Well, more guards will make things easier for me.”

“Don’t worry too much. Duke Killian won’t be able to mobilize too many of his troops if Duke Voltaire is personally guarding you. The attackers will retreat on their own after scaring your group a bit unless they want to die with you.”

* * *

And that was how golems ended up there to protect Kireua.

“Oh...”

Kireua was witnessing the golems’ power first-hand. They were only as big as adult males, but they moved so smoothly and nimbly that the masked people, who were all Experts at the least, couldn’t even touch the golems with their swords. Even if the assailants managed to hit the golems from time to time, they couldn’t so much as leave a scratch on the golems’ stone bodies.

After a short melee, the golem crushed the ambushers’ heads and then quietly looked back at Kireua. A shiver went down his spine. He swallowed nervously; at first, he had thought that maybe that the ambushers were weak, but they weren’t.

Voltaire was going up against another three of the ambushers on the other side, but he appeared to be struggling. The ambushers were facing down one of the strongest people in Swallow and yet they were handling Voltaire with perfect teamwork.

In addition, Kireua could see vague figures behind the masked people.

“...They’re all low-level, but every one of them has an authority,” Kireua muttered to himself.

He stiffened. Authorities themselves weren’t special, but how was he able to instantly recognize that those figures belonged to low-level gods? He had never been up in the heavens nor met a god. Although he considered the possibility that it was because of the energy that the ambushers exuded, Kireua concluded that that couldn’t be it. Coju and the power of Wrath had been worryingly quiet, so Kireua speculated that he might have absorbed their memories.

“Fuck!” Voltaire cussed at the top of his lungs.

All the ambushers were more skilled than he had expected. Kireua’s group outnumbered them two to one, but the ambushers were using the environment and poison very efficiently. On the other hand, Voltaire’s knights had to hold their breath and fend off incoming arrows while trapped in a swamp, so they were being helplessly picked off.

“Arghhhhhhhhh!”

When he’d lost half of his knights, Voltaire exploded in anger. Without any concern for aftereffects, he poured out his aura like a flood. Flesh was destroyed in three violent bursts of power.

Voltaire panted after slaying his three assailants. That was enough for Kireua to know that he and the others were dealing with formidable enemies; he was lucky that he had the golems up his sleeve.

Voltaire stomped on the crystal ball that was creating the swamp, venting his anger.

After a short hum, the ground turned firm again and poison fouling the area quickly disappeared.

“Shit. Those vermin...” Voltaire grunted.

The ambush wasn’t done just yet. The moment the crystal ball was destroyed, all of the archers shot their arrows at Voltaire.

Of course, Voltaire wasn’t someone who would be hit by arrows. Even if the archers were using Swallow-made longbows, he was one of the two pillars that supported the Swallow Empire.

But then, Voltaire trembled as if he was having a seizure. It was such a shock that even Kireua’s jaw was on the ground. Voltaire had managed to parry and dodge hundreds of arrows, but he missed one sword.

“You...” Voltaire whispered.

The sword belonged to the only person who was wearing black clothes, in contrast to the white clothes of all the other ambushers. His sword had gone right through Voltaire’s right shoulder. If Voltaire hadn’t turned his torso at the last moment, it would have been a fatal blow through the heart. But the most surprising part was...

“Zeratus...? That’s a high-level god...” Kireua mumbled.

The figure of the god behind the person in black clothes was Zeratus, a god known for his stealthiness. Although the clothes also stood out, this person was the only one who had a high-level god’s authority. Their presence was outstanding.

“...This should be enough of a warning,” the person in black clothes murmured.

“What...?”

“Consider it an honor, Duke Voltaire. Had our orders not changed at the last moment, none of you would have left this place alive.” The person turned to look at Kireua.

-This isn’t the time for you to be here, Kireua Sanders.

-...What’s that supposed to mean?

However, the conversation ended there.

“We’re retreating,” the person instructed those in white clothes.

“Sir!”

The people in white clothes were already ready, so they were gone quickly. However, Voltaire wasn’t willing to let them go just yet.

“Where do you... Agh!” Voltaire coughed up blood before he could strike the fleeing ambushers. He stared at the blood, eyes widening. “No way... Poison?”

“We’ll be in touch, Duke Voltaire,” the person in black clothes said before vanishing into thin air.

Voltaire stared blankly at the empty space for a moment and sank to the ground.

“Yo-Your Grace!”

His knights quickly ran toward him.

“Move the wounded! Contact the palace to get priests here! Anyone who’s poisoned, move to the right! ”

“Don’t touch the corpses! You might get poisoned too!”

The knights sorted out the site in an orderly manner, but only ninety out of two hundred knights could move around.

‘It took one ambush to slaughter half of the Voltaire family’s elite knights.’

Kireua’s eyes examined the situation sharply. Now he realized why Swallow had been keeping wary of the Killian family, but there were more troubling matters on his mind.

“...’Now isn’t the time for me to be here’...?”

“Your Highness.” Voltaire’s aide approached Kireua. “I’m sorry, but this is as far as we can escort you.”

“Oh... You’re leaving me after what happened? You’re basically asking me to go kill myself.”

“Would you prefer to return to Swallow’s capital with us? Keep in mind that we won’t be using the Magic Tower’s teleportation gates again because we can’t trust them.”

Kireua could understand why they would feel that way.

“Hmm...” He watched the knights help Voltaire to his feet and nodded. “Well, okay. You all have gone through a lot, so I’ll go back to Avalon on my own.”

“...Thank you for your understanding.” The aide left, satisfied now that he’d gotten the answer he wanted.

Despite what he’d said, Kireua wasn’t sure how he was supposed to find his way back to Avalon.

A buzzing coming from Kireua’s inner pocket made him flinch.

-Is everything okay?

Kireua held up the crystal ball and saw Arash in her fox mask within. He couldn’t see her expression because of her mask, but her voice sounded urgent for some reason.

“Okay? It’s far from okay,” Kireua scoffed.

-There has been an attack, hasn’t there?

“You can hear the full story from the survivors. The attackers did retreat like you speculated. Oh, yeah. Those monsters you called Vaikals or whatnot were incredible. Even Duke Voltaire had trouble dealing with the ambushers, but those Vaikals crushed them in no time.”

-That’s one silver lining. Did Voltaire’s knights see the Vaikals?

“The knights probably did, since the Vaikals didn’t exactly try to hide that they were protecting me.”

-Okay. I’ll take care of the rest. In any case... Umm... Phew.

Arash’s voice grew grim.

“Huh? Why do you suddenly sound so serious? You’re making me nervous.”

It was a long moment before Arash continued.

-...You need to go back to Avalon right now.

“It’s not like I don’t want to go bac—” Kireua froze up, overwhelmed by an ominous premonition. “...What did you hear?”

Ill omens always came true, and this time was not an exception.

-There’s a problem in Avalon. O-Of course, Swallow’s intelligence agency only just reported this, so it hasn’t been verified—

“Get to the point already! What did they say!?” Kireua shouted.

Arash bit her lip..

-...Avalon’s capital was conquered last night.