SAAE 35

Chapter 35

What the—this is scary!

Everyone’s eyes looked strange.

Especially the people dressed as knights. They were brimming with killing intent.

There were not only attendants in servant attire, but also people wearing clothes that marked them as high-ranking nobles.

And the one who had led this massive crowd here was none other than—

“Isael!”

Swan Victor Carlton.

The First Prince of the Lioness Empire.

“So you’ve come here on your own to die!”

Swan was Isael’s brother—and also Dominic’s childhood friend.

“Hahahahaha! Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this moment?!”

He burst into mad laughter, declaring that he would finish Isael off right here.

…There’s no demon worse than this guy.

I glanced at Isael.

Isael, who had been staring at Swan with a look of utter contempt, finally spoke.

“He’s always been that kind of person.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah. Even if he’s a fake, he seems to resemble the real person’s personality pretty well.”

Well, he was created based on your memories, after all…

I turned my head again and looked at Swan standing far away.

And then I noticed it.

A necklace.

There was a pendant necklace hanging around Swan’s neck.

“The fake First Prince has the necklace.”

At my words, Isael looked toward Swan and nodded.

“I’ll handle it.”

At that moment, Swan sneered viciously and shouted,

“Someone go and bring me my little brother’s head! Whoever succeeds will receive an incredible reward!”

At once, the knights charged forward.

Swan, clearly intending to observe from safety, retreated behind them.

I saw someone approach his side.

“O–Older Brother, why are you tormenting Second Brother like this?”

It was the fake Beatrice.

Just to be sure, I checked—there was no necklace around her neck.

That’s a relief, I guess.

It would be much easier on Isael to deal with Swan than with Beatrice.

Swan snapped at her in a sharp voice.

“Stop spewing disgusting nonsense and hide yourself.”

“But—”

“Shut up! You’re useless.”

Their conversation was perfectly audible even to me, so there was no way Isael—with his exceptional hearing—had missed it.

As expected, he calmly drew his sword.

He looked ready to charge forward at any moment.

“Isael, be careful. I’ll take care of the small fry!”

“Alright.”

After briefly meeting my gaze, Isael began advancing, mercilessly cutting down the enemies rushing at him.

A group of knights was also charging toward me.

“There’s one of the Second Prince’s allies over there!”

“Kill them!”

“Kill them!”

I had no idea where they’d thrown their chivalry.

“Second.”

I held out one hand toward him.

The Second, who had been acting as a porter until now, respectfully handed me a war hammer with both hands, as if offering tribute.

It was a war hammer with a long, scythe-like spike.

A weapon we had obtained earlier in the armory.

Even if they aren’t real humans… it’s still my first time killing. I’m shaking a little…

I gripped the handle tightly with both hands.

Then—

These are zombies.

I swung the war hammer with all my strength.

Thud—!

It sounded exactly like a watermelon bursting.

At the same time, the sharp spike of the weapon lodged itself into the enemy’s head.

Snapping out of my shock, I yanked the embedded weapon free with force.

Thump—

The man collapsed, blood pouring from his head.

Ugh… disgusting…

The splattered blood was pitch-black, as if contaminated.

Maybe this was a good thing.

Seeing the jet-black blood made it easier to convince myself that I wasn’t killing real people.

“Die—urk!”

Stab!

These aren’t human.

I kept repeating it like self-hypnosis as I swung my weapon.

“Die—”

Thud!

They’re not human. They’re zombies.

Like a mad executioner, I smashed their heads again and again.

“Gaaah!”

But they kept coming endlessly.

Were they really zombies or what?

And then—

This guy… I’m sure I already took him down earlier.

At some point, faces I had already killed began appearing again.

A bad feeling crept over me.

At this rate, the battle might never end.

We need to change tactics.

Panting heavily, I called out to the Third.

“Third!”

He immediately came to my side and stood close.

Our kids couldn’t attack them directly.

But indirectly…?

“Third, can you bring down that ceiling?”

At my question, the Third stepped back a few paces and looked up at the ceiling, as if calculating something.

Soon, he nodded.

“Good. Then use your magic the moment I give the signal. Got it?”

After giving the instruction, I was immediately scooped up by the Second and flown toward where Isael was.

“Isael!”

Isael, who had been swinging his sword nonstop, turned toward me.

“The Third is going to collapse the ceiling.”

“The ceiling?”

“Yeah. So you need to get out of the way.”

The moment Isael nodded in understanding, the Second extended his other arm and grabbed Isael by the collar.

“Ugh.”

Isael let out a low groan, as if his neck had been briefly choked.

“Are you okay?”

“……”

Isael glared murderously at the Second, but the Second paid it no mind and carried us straight to the opposite side.

“What the hell are those bastards doing?!”

Swan’s booming voice echoed from behind us.

“Isael! Are you running away like a coward?!”

I shouted toward the Third, who was standing with the First in the distance.

“Third, now!”

Wooooong—

A strange vibration filled the air.

The next moment, with a tremendous roar, the ceiling collapsed.

The group that had gone off to scout the island finally returned.

Felix, who had been guarding Louis as he concentrated with his eyes closed, stood up to greet them.

“Jade, did you find anything?”

“No. Nothing at all. It’s nothing but sand everywhere.”

“I see… Still, good work.”

“Good work, my ass.”

Jade shrugged. Felix chuckled lightly and asked,

“Where’s Leonard?”

“He said he’d look around a bit more. He went with Miss Ariana.”

“…Just the two of them?”

“Yeah. Those two are desperate for alone time whenever they get the chance.”

After answering, Jade pressed down firmly on Felix’s shoulders with both hands.

“Sit, sit. If we wait, they’ll come back on their own.”

Pressed down like that, Felix ended up sitting back down and glanced at Kane, who stood stiffly behind Jade like a statue.

“Kane, don’t you have any complaints?”

“…Not really.”

As always, Kane replied curtly.

Jade sat down beside Louis and poked Louis’s cheek with his index finger.

“He’s still like this?”

“…Get lost.”

Louis opened his eyes.

His face was filled with irritation.

It seemed he had failed once again to make contact with Rosette.

Felix cautiously watched Louis’s mood when Louis asked,

“What you said—that Rosette isn’t a mage. Are you absolutely sure?”

“Ah, uh… yeah. Rosette’s power wasn’t magic.”

Rosette controlled something like black shadows. It was definitely different from magic—but Felix didn’t know how to explain it. He had never seen an ability like it before.

“…Or was it? Could that also be considered summoning magic?”

“Tsk.”

Louis frowned. Expecting reliable information from Felix had been a mistake in the first place.

Now, Louis’s magic could no longer reach Rosette at all.

Which meant indirect communication with her was no longer possible.

The last time—when Louis had entered Rosette’s dream—

Louis had lied to her.

He had told her that Felix, who was only mildly dehydrated, was on the brink of death.

He wanted Rosette to feel guilty.

His plan had been to provoke her guilt and force her cooperation.

“Your lives are your own problem.”

But instead of feeling sorry, Rosette had been colder than ever.

“I’m not rejoining your group. No matter how many times you come looking for me, nothing will change. My 마음 will never change.”

She had drawn a clear line.

Her words and actions were completely different from the generous attitude she had shown when traveling with them before.

“Just like the past—when you abandoned me—will never change.”

It seemed that being abandoned by the group had become the turning point.