Free Web NovelLieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok had seen through their plan with near perfection.
And he had even sent the best troops needed for it as reinforcements.
The problem was.
“That energy...... seemed impossible to endure.”
In the end, he too was human.
Calculating within the scope of what he knew was his limit.
Something he did not know had happened to Sergeant Shin Youngjun, and because of that, his calculation had gone wrong.
“There is no need for you to apologize. However.......”
He could feel that their mood was not good.
But Corporal Jeon Gwangil carefully opened his mouth.
“We are preparing once again to retake Sergeant Shin Youngjun.”
“......Hm.”
“However...... there is a high chance it will be difficult with only us. If the five of you could help us.......”
At those words.
They looked at one another’s faces.
“It is true that we owe him a debt.......”
And then Shin Jong scratched his head and opened his mouth.
“If five of us risked our lives once, I think we have repaid that debt to some extent.”
“.......”
“We have no intention of risking our lives twice. We...... were planning to return to the martial hall the moment Gyeonsul over there recovered.”
At those words.
The Legion members tried to say something.
But.
“I don’t know what that man means to you people. But you should give up too.”
“What do you mean.......”
“He is a being who carries that dangerous energy inside him.”
This time, they had survived because that energy had somehow subsided.
But.
“There is no guarantee we will survive next time.”
If that situation happened again.
If that energy did not subside, and instead clashed with them.......
“At that point, neither we nor you people will survive.”
“.......”
“We risked our lives once to repay a debt. But...... it is not a debt great enough for us to leap into something where death is certain.”
At those words.
The soldiers could not answer.
“This is as far as we go.”
“We want to spend the rest of our lives leisurely at the martial hall with our fellow disciples.......”
In effect, they were asking them to risk death together.
Even if it was a debt owed for saving their lives.
They could not ask them to lose the precious remaining life that had been saved that way.
“If it is that energy,”
And so.
As the soldiers stood speechless.
“You need not worry.”
***
A voice suddenly came from somewhere.
When they turned their gazes toward that voice.
“Queen.......”
There.
Stood the queen of those vampires.
Ariella.
The unit members looked at her with strange gazes.
But.
“Kaaaaaaak!”
“......!?”
The beastkin reacted differently.
Their fur stood on end, and the shapes of their pupils changed.
Pak!
They moved away from her in an instant.
Scattering to every corner of the room.
Before anyone knew it, each of them held their weapons in their hands.
As for the reason for that attitude.......
They could understand it to some extent.
'We would have been the same if not for what Sergeant Shin told us.'
In the fight inside the Church.
There were two reasons the Legion members had been able to escape safely.
One of them was.
The help of the beastkin.
Because they had held Sergeant Shin Youngjun back, the Legion members had been able to attempt their escape.
But.......
To be honest, the ones who had helped the most were not them.
The ones who had played the greatest role in the escape were none other than.
'That queen’s troops.'
The Legion members had infiltrated deep inside the Church.
To stop them, troops had been gathering from every part of the Church’s territory.
And not only humans, but even monsters they had no idea where the Church had been hiding had appeared.
If they had been ordinary enemies.
With the Legion members’ abilities, they might have somehow succeeded in breaking through.
But...... they had not been in an ordinary state.
'Enemies who had eaten Sergeant Shin’s cooking.......'
Until now.
Whenever something had gone wrong for the Legion, the Legion members had overcome the difficulty through that cooking.
There had been almost no battles they had lost after eating his cooking.
That power.
Had been applied to the enemy.
No matter how elite the Legion’s soldiers were.
If they had been surrounded by them, then no matter how fiercely they resisted, they would ultimately have had no choice but to lose.
'The queen’s troops blocked them.'
Enemies pouring in from every direction.
Even from far away, they could see the massive monsters fighting those enemies.
Powerful magical beasts with red eyes.
Because they had helped the Legion members escape, they had been able to survive.
However.......
'She still feels unpleasant.'
Only through Sergeant Shin Youngjun’s mediation did they intellectually understand that she was an ally.
Even now.
In the hearts of most of the unit members, the queen’s existence was rather uncomfortable.
“......You need not worry about what you fear.”
Perhaps she felt those gazes.
Ariella opened her mouth in as calm a tone as possible.
Then Sergeant Lee Minjae answered while remaining wary.
“What do you mean, we don’t need to worry?”
“The energy those beastkin fear is difficult for those religious bastards to control, and even for Master himself.”
In the fight against the grand duke.
Ariella had heard of the plan Sergeant Shin Youngjun had made.
As a result.
She had a rough idea.
Of what kind of physical state he had ended up in.
'Master possessed outstanding talent as a noble.'
Even if not completely.
She could guess it to some degree.
“If Master has truly become one of their people, then they will know that the Church itself will not survive the moment that energy is released. This time, he almost used it by accident, but they will not make the same mistake again.”
Then.
The beastkin, still not lowering their weapons, shouted.
“Humans. Is that one also...... your ally?”
“......For the time being, yes.”
The Legion members also had little bond with Ariella.
But.
At least they recognized her as an ally.
It was also true that they had received a great deal of help from her this time.
“Then what are you hesitating over?”
Then.
The beastkin looked at the soldiers as if dumbfounded and said.
“If that woman steps forward, every problem will be solved.”
Ariella usually suppressed her energy.
Because of that.
To the other soldiers, she did not feel that threatening.
But.......
“That smell.......”
Some races.
Were born with sharper senses than others.
“For the smell of blood to be this thick.”
“It is strange that she gives off this much blood scent and yet feels so little evil, but.......”
“Even that power will not be small.”
Even with her energy suppressed.
To the beastkin, they could not even see where the bottom of the power Ariella held lay.
“If you receive that one’s help, most problems will be solved.”
Because of that.
They could not understand why the soldiers were asking them for help when they had such a being as an ally.
“That is.......”
“That may be true, but.”
And.
The Legion members had also thought of that possibility.
But.
“I am sorry, but it seems impossible for me to step forward and solve this.”
“Why......? With your power.”
“Because.”
Ariella shook her head and said.
“I am Master’s retainer.”
“......?”
It sounded a little strange.
Confusion appeared on the beastkin’s faces.
But the Legion members understood what those words meant.
“Last time...... when Youngjun made you do disciplinary drills.”
In the past, when Sergeant Shin Youngjun had put forward a plan to use Ariella.
Sergeant Lee Minjae had opposed that plan on the grounds that it was dangerous.
“And at that time.”
Sergeant Shin Youngjun had shown them that Ariella was a being he could perfectly control.
“You could not resist at all.”
“That is as he says.”
In other words.
“Even now, if Master gives me an order, I will be unable to refuse.”
“......!”
Then.
Corporal Jeon Gwangil and Corporal Seo Suhyeok nodded as if they finally understood.
'It was the same this time.'
'The queen suddenly left only her troops behind and disappeared somewhere.'
At the time, it had been quite puzzling.
Among the soldiers, many had thought that the queen helping them had been a whim, and when the battle turned unfavorable, she had mercilessly abandoned them.
But the real reason was probably.
'To avoid encountering Sergeant Shin.'
The moment she encountered him.
She would have no choice but to obey his orders.
To avoid that situation, she had retreated as far away as possible.
“To be honest.”
And also.
“Even now, orders are coming through the oath.”
Those orders.
Were being transmitted through the oath even from far away.
***
“Orders are coming?”
“Mm. Ordinarily.......”
Ariella spoke calmly.
“I should normally be eliminating you for attempting to resist Master.”
At those words, the unit members had no choice but to tense.
They hurriedly tried to step back.
But.
“Do not worry too much.”
In reality.
What they feared did not happen.
“For now, I am somehow ignoring them.”
“Ignoring......?”
Ignoring them.
They wondered how such a thing was possible.
“When I was thrown into the land of that other country, for certain reasons, the oath I had made with Master was once broken.”
“......?”
“After that, I had to make an oath with Master again. It is a stronger and tougher oath...... but its nature is slightly different.”
To be precise.
The oath between Ariella and Shin Youngjun now was different from the past.
“If the previous oath was one made through compulsion, this oath was made of my own will.”
Because of that.
In the matter of following the oath as well, the area where Ariella could judge for herself had increased to some degree.
Originally, Sergeant Shin Youngjun had become a member of the Church’s side.
And if Sergeant Shin Youngjun thought Ariella should also help him and side with the Church, then it would have been impossible for her to go against that will.
But.
“An external force is now interfering with Master’s judgment. I ‘judged’ that refusing Master’s orders in such a state is the act that serves Master’s interests.”
“Ah.......”
“Even now, I can hear the order to come to him through the line of this oath. But if I believe not going is the act that serves my master, then I can resist to some degree.”
However.
That was possible only because it was an indirect order through the thread of the oath.
“I would not be able to refuse an order given while looking at him directly.”
That was the reason she could not step forward and solve every problem herself.
“In the end, the role of fighting Master must fall to others.”
At those words.
Some of the squad leaders’ lips twitched.
But...... soon, those mouths quietly closed.
'With our forces.......'
They frowned with such thoughts.
'It would be impossible.'
To begin with.
If they could have subdued Sergeant Shin Youngjun on their own.
They would not have come to find the beastkin and ask for help like this.
The reason Lieutenant General Kim Hyeon-seok had sent them as reinforcements.
Was surely an accurate judgment, but...... at the same time.
'It must also have been a judgment that we cannot subdue Sergeant Shin.'
At that thought.
They had no choice but to clench their fists.
This was a matter involving their corps commander.
Yet they themselves could not solve the problem.
All they could do was smile bitterly.
And as they wore those self-mocking smiles.
Their gazes turned to one place.
“......You mean us?”
If even Ariella was impossible.
The only ones who came to mind were the beastkin.
But.
Receiving those gazes, the beastkin frowned and said.
“......Do you intend to force us to fight?”
They wanted to withdraw from this battle.
But that was only what they thought.
If they.
No.
If that woman tried to force them to fight.
'We would have no choice but to comply.'
There was a gap in power between Ariella and them.
So great that they could not refuse.
“Do not worry. I have no intention of entrusting that part to you.”
But.
Fortunately, perhaps.
“You would be incapable of it anyway.”
In truth, she did not seem to intend to make them do it.
