Ch.123123. Estate (6)

Knight Enervel Gatrang was left speechless at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

Despite having lived his entire life as a warrior, a fighter to whom slaughter and death were all too familiar and even intimate sights, the massacre before him felt fundamentally different from any battle he had experienced before.

“AAAAARGH!!”

“P-please spare m—!”

Throughout the forest, screams filled with despair and grief echoed, and after each scream inevitably came the “THUD!” of a falling corpse.

This might seem like a rather weak reaction from a man who, as a knight of the baronial family obligated to protect the domain, had taken countless lives. But this was happening because Enervel Gatrang had never witnessed humans being slaughtered so one-sidedly.

Even for a knight whose job was fighting, how could every day be devoted solely to battle?

As an ordinary knight of a frontier barony, the most he typically did was intimidate bandits and drag them to the mines, or exterminate mid-level magical beasts that appeared in the outskirts.

Moreover, this battle was proceeding in a way designed to provoke terror, according to Druid Gregory’s intentions. Gregory’s direction, influenced by his experience with the golden age of mass media, was more than enough to stimulate the mind and body of Enervel Gatrang, who was utterly innocent to such stimulation.

For Enervel, who had consumed nothing more sophisticated than medieval-level plays or stage performances for entertainment, this massacre—partially incorporating modern direction and sound techniques—appeared unbearably cruel.

The jump-scare techniques were particularly effective—bodies suddenly dragged up into trees, dismembered, and dropped down piece by piece in the silence, or the well-timed scares that played against the quiet. These might be common now, but for Enervel, who had never experienced them before, they were utterly shocking.

And… as the prolonged massacre finally began to subside…

‘……!’

Just as Enervel Gatrang was being overwhelmed by strange emotions at the desolate sight of the feathered dinosaurs appearing with blood and bits of flesh smeared across their bodies, especially around their mouths…

The very architect of this scene, Gregory, calmly gazed at them and began an incantation in a language Enervel did not understand.

[■ ■■ ■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■! ■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■■!!]

Though it had some similarities to the “common language” used throughout the Western Continent, if one listened more carefully, it was clearly an entirely different language. These “words of power” gradually flowed forth.

For Enervel, whose experience with magic had been limited to magical tools and equipment from the magic tower, or at most the magical powers of magical beasts, hearing these “words of power”—a magical incantation—directly with his own ears was a shocking experience.

In language, in speech, in words, in each vibration of air that formed them, there dwelled a mysterious, intangible power.

Especially for Enervel, who was particularly sensitive to supernatural energies like mana, this unfamiliar magical power he was feeling for the first time made him wear a strange expression…

[—■■■!!!]

And then, as the incantation completed, the result of the cast spell was enough to shatter Enervel’s composure completely.

—SLASH!!

After a sound like a razor-sharp blade cutting through soft meat, the heads of the dinosaur horde—who had been perfectly alive just moments before—were cleanly severed and fell to the ground.

Those without discernment might simply be shocked that their heads had been severed without any warning, but Enervel, with the minimal perceptiveness expected of a mid-level fighter, realized what had cut their necks.

Slashes. They were invisible, formless slashes.

Slashes that traced their trajectory through the air like a beast swinging its claws. Attacks that didn’t fly from the magic caster, Druid Gregory, but began and ended in midair.

The spell, activated almost simultaneously with the completion of the incantation and severing hundreds of lives, made an extremely powerful impact on Enervel because of… the power and speed of those slashes.

‘……..This is.’

The cross-sections left on the bodies of the feathered dinosaurs, now beginning to scatter into light particles before Enervel Gatrang’s eyes, were incredibly clean.

Reminiscent of wounds caused by a sword wrapped in aura or mana, not just flesh but even bone had been cleanly severed.

As a knight, Enervel Gatrang could be certain.

The power of the slashing spell could exert meaningful lethality even against knights wrapped in aura…

And the speed at which the attacks flew was so powerful that he wasn’t sure if he himself could handle it.

To a mid-level warrior’s perception, the completion of the incantation and the casting of the spell happened almost simultaneously.

Moreover, while the angles of the flying slashes varied, their occurrence was perfectly simultaneous.

Even for Enervel Gatrang, who wasn’t particularly imaginative, seeing this was enough to bring a certain idea to mind.

A baptism of slashes flying simultaneously from all directions, with no particular source, coming at angles that made them impossible to avoid due to physical limitations.

“……..Could I block it?”

Desperately recalling the speed and power of the slashes he had just witnessed, Enervel tried to propose various scenarios in his mind, but most of these scenarios were mercilessly crushed by the conclusion that he couldn’t dodge or counter the slashes.

He might be able to twist his body and respond to one or two attacks. With great effort, he might even somehow block or dodge a series of consecutive attacks.

But… Enervel’s limit was precisely here.

What could Enervel possibly do in a situation where attacks flew at him simultaneously from all directions?

Furthermore, what could ordinary mid-level knights like him possibly do?

Having reality thrust so blatantly before his eyes, Enervel had completely lost even the faint hostility that had remained like a thread.

With a mentality not much different from that of an ordinary human, Enervel keenly felt that resistance or struggle was only possible if there was even the slightest chance of success.

Literally, this could be seen as the cause that filled his heart with complete submission.

And to Enervel’s side came Druid Gregory, who could be called the cause of this entire situation.

—Flinch!

Terrified, Enervel flinched spasmodically as Druid Gregory approached, but Gregory himself looked puzzled at Enervel’s overreaction to his actions.

Of course, this was only momentary.

“Sir Gatrang. I have something to ask you.”

“……..What is it?”

When the druid Gregory, who had approached him, suddenly asked a question, Enervel tensely managed to receive the question…

Whether aware of Enervel’s state or not, the man called Gregory Aleinos calmly got to the point.

“If I were to release you, how do you think your lord, Baron Lefante, would treat you and your subordinates?”

“…That’s!”

Though he couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud, Enervel Gatrang began to see the outcome Gregory spoke of clearly in his mind.

Not only had he failed to carry out his orders and surrendered to the enemy at will, but in the process of surrendering, he hadn’t even attempted to fight—he had simply surrendered at the mere sight of the enemy’s face.

It was only natural that his reputation and honor would be dragged through the mud.

It wouldn’t be strange if he died for not following the contract he had made as a knight—that was reality.

Of course, having devoted his entire life to serving Baron Lefante, he probably wouldn’t lose his life over this incident…

But at the very least, he could lose his current position and be demoted, or have his vassal contract terminated due to being held accountable.

Obviously, they wouldn’t expel a mid-level warrior knight, but it was entirely possible that he would be forced to enter into a vassal contract with even more inferior and degraded conditions.

……..For Baron Lefante, who had his home and family in the baronial city, this was an utterly unacceptable reality.

If even he, a knight—a high-quality resource—had to prepare for demotion or downfall like this, what would happen to the soldiers under his command?

While the men-at-arms, who were professional soldiers in their own right, might be able to keep their positions, the fate awaiting the conscripted soldiers was all too predictable.

In any case, if there was a political failure, someone had to be held responsible.

The conscripted soldiers would most likely become scapegoats, banished or forced to take the blame.

“…….”

As Enervel maintained his silence, filled with gloom and frustration after easily foreseeing such an obvious outcome…

“Sir Gatrang. Therefore, I propose to you. Would you consider forming a new vassal contract between you and me?”

“……..What?”

The druid, Gregory Aleinos, looked straight at Enervel and made an unexpected proposal.