Chapter 46 – I Don’t Need Anything
“…Who is that woman! I didn’t hear about this!”
I suddenly heard those words while my consciousness was pulled out of the darkness.
Only, the place I was in was also dark.
I tried to move my body, but was constrained. My hands and feet seemed to be tied.
(I’m alive…?)
I wondered, and then was sure of it.
(He knocked me out and then brought me here?)
Where? …The house that he had entered?
I sat up. And as my eyes grew accustomed to the shadows, I started to see things.
It appeared to be a storage room of some kind.
I looked down. It was the same clothes, though a little more dirty.
“She must be related to that count. Perhaps she is his daughter. If that’s the case, surely she could be useful?”
“…Hmm. What if it hinders the plan? If the count’s daughter has gone missing, the cops will be all over the place, searching for her.”
“That’s fine. More importantly, the thing…”
It looked like they had no time.
I didn’t know what they were talking about, but it was clear that they were up to no good.
“…”
I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through my stomach.
When I dispelled the magic I had cast there, blood slowly started to flow.
But if I used magic right now, they might detect me. I was not confident that I could conceal it.
And so I ignored the pain, curled up my body and rotated my arms so that my hands were in front.
(They were idiots to not take off my shoes.)
Perhaps they were in a rush. Or they had reason to not be worried.
I used the blade hidden in the shoe to slowly cut the ropes around my wrists.
And then I took off my shoe and used the blade to cut the ropes around my ankles.
…Teacher taught me how to do this.
Not just this, a lot of other things.
He had taught me so much.
And yet…that fight earlier had been hopeless.
She had not been able to do any of the basics of combat at all.
—Teacher Yukito.
What would he do in this situation?
If he could see me now…
(There is no time to wonder.)
I slowly moved my body, careful to be silent.
Then I searched through the storage room for something that could be a weapon. Ah…
(There.)
I silently pulled the sword out of a box and unsheathed it. A white blade glimmered in front of my eyes.
To think that there really was one here.
For once, I felt grateful towards god.
With sword in hand, I peeked into the neighboring room.
There was the man I had encountered earlier. And the man I had followed here. They were talking.
“…It will not affect the plan.”
“Aye, it will be alright. And with this, the arena will explode.”
“Hmm…”
He was holding a rectangular object.
Judging by what he had said, it must be a bomb.
(Do they really mean to set off a bomb in the arena?)
If that happened…
Father, Sherry, Size, Rev…Yukito.
They would all be killed.
(I would lose something again…)
They were going to take everything from me.
Everything that I held dear…!
—I’ll kill them.
Aye, that’s right.
I have to kill them.
And so I…
“Well, good work. I’ll be taking it now.”
“Ah…”
In that instant.
I rolled out and stabbed the first man in the back with my sword.
“Gah!”
First one down.
I kicked him away and held my sword in front of me.
‘Huh…’ The other man muttered, and his hand went down to the hilt of his sword.
“Not bad, young lady.”
“…Shut up. Hand over that bomb.”
“Hehe. I’m afraid you’re asking for too much.”
My breathing was hard.
Pained.
This man killed my brother.
Knowing that—-it made me want to shout.
“Ah, I understand. Your eyes. You so badly want to kill me. Don’t you?”
“…Shut up.”
“Revenge? Hehe. Well, let me tell you something. During that brat’s final moment…”
“Shut up!!”
A crack, and then the room froze.
—Dance on Ice.
Shards of ice, sharp as blades had materialized all round the room, and they now shot towards the man.
Real magic, with the intention to kill. However, not a single one touched him. He dodged or struck them down.
“Too slow…”
“You’re too slow!”
Unsheathing slash attack. While low on the ground.
Attacks near the feet were difficult to dodge. Especially right after you have been distracted by countless magic attacks.
But still the man’s blade intercepted, causing a high-pitch ring to echo through the room.
His sword was stabbed into the ground, blocking her.
Then it bounced up, cutting through the air, as if to trace the outline of my jaw.
Barely dodging it, I rolled back and got up to my feet.
“Huh. Not bad. You really are that brat’s sister. You have that same, polite way of fighting.”
His words were noise, chaotically jumbling my thoughts.
He then smiled with a look filled with malice.
“If I kill you in the same way, what expression will you make? Eh?”
“Silence…!”
I stepped forward. This had to end soon.
Kill him. Swing your sword. I obeyed the voices inside of me.
However…
They never reached.
“Ah! Ahhhh!!”
Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut…!!
The scene from that day swirled through my mind like a kaleidoscope.
What these men took… Such precious and peaceful days.
My brother’s words. The warmth of his hand.
His dignity and even his head.
“…Such regret…”
The man’s voice echoed.
The contorted smile.
And then…
Suddenly, a spear-like rock seemed to grow out from the ground. It caught me in the stomach, sending me into the air
“Gah…!”
I was thrown against the wall, and the air left my lungs.
“Now, I will tell you of his final moments.”
The man’s footsteps echoed in the empty room as he walked.
Even though she didn’t want to hear, the words slid into her ears.
“Shut…up…”
He continued to grin as he spoke of her brother’s end.
“His men fought desperately. Oh, very desperately.”
But it was for nothing. Her brother was captured—and each of his men were executed in front of his eyes.
“At first, he would talk about being ready. And that we should hurry up and kill him. But by the end, he was crying and shouting for us to stop.”
Shut up.
“By the time we were going to cut off his head, he was calling for his father and mother to help… Ah, that’s right. There was also someone else. Some girl’s name. Yes, it was Iria.”
Why.
Why…
“What a classic! And so we cut off his head and took off his clothes! Could you even tell which body was his? Eh!?”
I had trained so hard.
Why was my sword not enough to reach even this man.
“It’s too bad.”
The footsteps echoed.
The sword pointed at my throat.
The tip punctured my skin just a little, and blood ran down.
“You must have trained so desperately in order to get revenge. —And it was all for nothing.”
Nothing?
All of it?
Ah, why is it…
In this moment, what I think about is—memories of my teacher?
Why should I cling onto him?
Is he going to kill this man for me?
No, not that.
His sword was so beautiful—it could not be defiled like that.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you. This just happens to be rather convenient…”
“…I.”
If I am to have my revenge…it must be by my own hand.
“I…don’t…need anything else…”
The crack of frost.
My blood trickled down to my sword.
The man’s face froze in an expression of shock.
Even that—everything.
Currents of magic energy cut through air in a maddening rage.
The wing froze everything.
The walls, the ceiling. All of it.
The frozen ceiling collapsed. It had started raining outside, and it now came pouring down over them.
But even the rain turned to ice.
Sharp, small lances of ice.
The countless shards pierced the ground.
The merciless rain attacked the room, the roof, destroying everything until it crumbled.
…
In a corner of the room.
A mass of rock fell apart.
And the man with the sword appeared from within.
“…Tsk. Did she lose control? What kind of magic energy…”
But he was unharmed. Though, the right hand that had clutched his sword was frozen.
He had immediately let go of it and used magic to create a barrier of stone.
“Is she dead?”
—No.
Iria was alive.
Even though half of her body was frozen.
(Could it be… That she had just enough control over magic of that scale?)
If she did, it was incredibly impressive.
“I was going to let her go alive, but…”
She should die. Thinking this, he tried to approach her.
—The man clicked his tongue as he detected a presence coming towards him swiftly.
Right now, he had to prioritize his job.
In spite of appearances, he cared greatly about finishing his job properly.
And so he quickly retrieved the case with the bomb, and left the scene behind him.
However, there was one thing.
One thing that he had missed.
The other presence. That of another man, it had vanished suddenly.
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Thanks for the chapter.
Thanks for the translation!!