Ch.33Marcy (5)

“…Did you say homunculus?”

“Yes.”

The middle-aged man stared at me blankly. The emotion readable in his gaze was bewilderment.

“We didn’t have that information. Are you certain?”

“I’m certain. The homunculus will escape on the next imperial ship and rendezvous with the Guardian Duke.”

“If that information is accurate, it would be quite a catch, but…”

He didn’t seem to trust me. He was half-doubting whether my information was reliable.

I could convince him sufficiently just by exuding killing intent as if displaying anger.

“Lord Lorian lost his armor to that creature and lost an arm to it as well. Surely you don’t intend to take the clan’s punishment in his place?”

“No, of course not. It’s just…”

The middle-aged man worried about botching the job. I stared at him silently.

Eventually, he had no choice but to accept my proposal. That was why we boarded a ferry at the harbor when dawn came.

“Will the spy be coming along as well?”

“Despite appearances, I know how to take care of myself. We’ve been working together for a while.”

“Understood.”

Everything was going according to Isla’s words and plan. She and I both agreed that this shapeshifter needed to be eliminated.

Even though Isla personally disliked Melody, she didn’t deny that her survival had a profound impact on our own survival.

So we set a trap to save her. The plan was to kill the shapeshifter leader on a ship where it would be difficult to exert full power.

I wondered if it would be possible, but I didn’t dwell on it more than necessary.

The task was already at hand. I couldn’t tell the woman who had even pledged to die with me that it seemed too risky.

It was closer to a feeling of “whatever will be, will be.” Not in a negative sense.

Rather, it was more like a positive “it’ll work out somehow.” My heart felt lighter.

I never realized how comforting it could be to have someone risk their life for me. With this unfamiliar feeling, I boarded the ferry.

“Let’s row together.”

“Ah, for someone so young to do such work…”

“It’s fine. It’s for the mission.”

While the shapeshifter and I rowed, Isla remained quiet. She stayed silent behind me, neither perking up her ears nor swishing her tail.

Perhaps due to the possibility that we might die, she was quieter today than she had been all day. Or maybe she wasn’t fully awake yet.

Either way, her presence gave me stability.

Thanks to that, I could strengthen my resolve as I watched the sailing ship gradually approaching.

We stopped the ferry beside the stationary sailing ship and climbed aboard. As I ascended the rope ladder onto the deck, the ship’s characteristic instability shook my posture.

Nevertheless, I managed to steady myself with my exceptional senses when someone approached.

“You’ve arrived.”

It was a human with an ordinary appearance. He wasn’t high-ranking, judging by his common sailor’s attire.

He had a hand axe at his waist and ropes wrapped around his body.

Two tools clearly meant for work. However, behind him lay two corpses side by side—one strangled to death, the other with its head smashed by an axe.

This was the frightening aspect of the Three Clans. Through some unknown principle, they could easily recruit traitors.

It felt almost like an infection. Those who secretly received promises from them would covertly prepare for betrayal and begin working for the Three Clans.

Whether they knew this or not was irrelevant. I hid my bitter expression behind my helmet.

“I’ve subdued the sentries. What shall we do next?”

The shapeshifter glanced at me. After gauging my reaction, he said:

“There must be new cargo or personnel that have come aboard. Let’s see them first.”

He seemed to be prioritizing my business. Did he think I would be troublesome otherwise?

Or perhaps he wanted to deal with the homunculus first because it might interfere with his work.

It was an unnecessary consideration. I rolled my eyes to look to the side.

Isla was nervously shifting her feet, but when she noticed my gaze, she froze.

Her tail swished gently at the edge of my vision.

Her presence gave me courage. As he turned his head away, I moved my hand to my sword hilt.

Knowledge learned and directly injected into my brain.

Weapon skills that had progressed beyond novice level to something I could reasonably call proficient.

One of them was swordsmanship. I grabbed the scabbard with my left hand and moved it to a vertical position.

Then I drew the sword. The blade emerging from the scabbard made no sound.

The sailor’s eyes fixed on the blade.

I maximized the advantage of surprise and the situation where drawing a sword wouldn’t seem strange.

My body moved organically in response.

Gripping the drawn sword, I crossed my feet instead of stepping forward with one foot. My left hand rose toward the hilt, and only then did the scabbard clatter.

I held the sword horizontally after initially raising it diagonally, stepped forward with my right foot, and—

Slash!

The swung blade cut through the wrist that the minion reflexively raised.

Crack!

The blade embedded itself in his neck. The sword momentarily stopped as it caught on the neck bone.

It was stuck. But flames followed immediately along the sword’s path. Just as the shapeshifter hurriedly turned his body—

Whoooosh, Clang!

The flames painted over the sword’s path, slicing through the neck. Until it reached the shapeshifter beside him.

Sparks flew in all directions. I watched the shapeshifter being pushed back as he blocked my blade.

Shock, dismay, betrayal. Various emotions appeared in succession on his face, which he quickly composed into a hardened expression.

Our eyes met. The moment his golden yellow eyes met my gray ones, we moved simultaneously.

I withdrew my sword and thrust it forward again. Another horizontal slash. His spear melted and flew away. He clenched his now-empty hand.

With a sonic boom and a rushing fist—strength was an ability stat that represented muscle power, and thus greatly affected speed as well.

I barely managed to turn my head as his fist, appearing pitch black in the night, narrowly missed me. The air pressure in its wake lashed at my body.

What greeted him as he lunged forward was a lead bullet that flew like a whistling sound.

Isla’s precise strike from her sling.

He couldn’t dodge it. So instead of avoiding it, the shapeshifter took it head-on.

Crunch—the sound from between his bared teeth revealed the bullet’s fate. But the large figure was still pushed back with a grinding sound.

I charged toward him. Flames surged with every swing of my sword, and instead of drawing another spear, he wrapped something like fur around his arm and—

Clang!

He blocked and deflected my sword strike. Though the flames briefly caught on the fur and must have stung, he didn’t hesitate.

The bare hand and blade clashed several times.

The noise woke those who had been sleeping. They were drawn out.

The shouts, bell ringing, and astonished orders of skilled sailors who could sleep soundly even on the swaying sea mingled together.

What their eyes beheld was a battle between two monsters. Me and the shapeshifter. Sword versus beast arm.

Clang, Clang!

I felt dismayed as I watched the shapeshifter leisurely block and deflect each of my sword strikes.

He was even blocking attacks from the sling aimed at him by tilting his head or deflecting them with his arm.

He was strong. Stronger than I had thought.

But there was no way to retreat. When one of my sword strikes was blocked, I was kicked in the abdomen and pushed back. The ship’s railing caught me as I slid across the deck.

“…Well, this is troublesome.”

We were now surrounded. The sailors had armed themselves and were targeting us.

I couldn’t tell if they were Imperial Intelligence or not, but they were definitely Imperial affiliates. The golden blade conjured by someone who appeared to be a mage proved it.

The golden blade, used even by the Cannibal Baron.

“What is the meaning of this?”

As I stared at that radiance, the shapeshifter shouted:

“What reason could you possibly have to do this… No, wait.”

The middle-aged shapeshifter gave a hollow laugh.

“So you’re the homunculus?”

He had realized that all my lies were half-truths.

And that he hadn’t noticed until now.

I ostentatiously wrapped the crimson blood around my reddish armor.

“The Guardian Duke and the Golden Nightingale sent me! This shapeshifter and his collaborators are the cause of the successive disappearances of the advance teams!”

The sailors stiffened at my proclamation. They looked at the shapeshifter, who cracked his neck from side to side.

The strategy was obvious. He realized it too.

When faced with a shapeshifter and someone claiming to be on the Guardian Duke’s orders, the correct move would be to subdue the shapeshifter first, as he was clearly the enemy.

Explanations could come later.

Additionally, they were on a ship—a space where it was difficult to exert full strength.

Despite being at a disadvantage, he remained calm.

“Is that how it’s going to be?”

His changed manner of speech after realizing my identity. He was a seasoned warrior. He had been through as many struggles as his apparent age suggested.

His relaxed arms conveyed as much.

“I’m certain now after fighting you. You… can’t defeat me.”

Like the experienced warrior he was, he had assessed my capabilities.

“I don’t know how you cooked up that shapeshifter behind you, but whether it’s there or how many of these scraps are here, it won’t make a difference. Even if you’ve dealt with the Cannibal Baron or the Star Blade…”

Crack—his muscles swelled. The sound coming from the shapeshifter’s body sounded somewhat eerie.

“You can’t beat me.”

His words made me recall someone.

Blood Knight Lorian, whom I had barely defeated through a magical backflow phenomenon from a ring that changed gender and abilities.

In his original body, he would have been something impossible to defeat.

The most likely way to defeat him would have been through a gamble like a dungeon’s hidden reward.

If not for the magical backflow, I would have lost, and if the Star Blade hadn’t been there, I would have lost too. I knew that better than anyone.

I wasn’t at a level where I could fight the Three Clans.

“But you know what? I’m just a foot soldier. Ah, don’t worry about whether I should be saying this. It doesn’t matter since everyone will die anyway.”

His confident tone matched his self-assurance. Despite being surrounded by Imperial forces, they hesitated to move.

And for good reason.

“I’m just a foot soldier, yet I can kill everyone here and escape. Doesn’t that sound absurd?”

The middle-aged man chuckled, sighed, and scratched the back of his neck vigorously.

“But it’s true.”

I understood what he wanted to say. He wasn’t particularly eloquent, like me.

This roundabout speech was essentially…

“Surrender. Even if you’ve ruined the clan’s plans and made the blood clan eat crow… dying for that seems a bit much, don’t you think?”

It was an offer.

He was generously telling me to surrender and join the Three Clans under him.

“Come under me. I’m just a foot soldier, but I can find local collaborators. I can recommend you as a foot soldier too. Right now, all this mess… can be forgotten.”

The middle-aged man’s eyes turned to me. He had called me “young blood.”

That meant even if I was a vampire, I looked young to him. I must have appeared like a mere child.

True to his middle age, he was giving me a chance. He wanted to save a foolish, young idiot.

Why? For what reason?

“I like strong ones. I also like those who will become strong… and those with cunning. But I dislike the weak.”

Because he was impressed by what I had done.

“Although the damage you’ve caused is considerable, it can still be salvaged. Especially if you’re a homunculus.”

It was a strange statement. What followed was equally so.

“Unlike Lucilla, you have a chance.”

He was sincerely trying to persuade me.

But to me, it sounded a bit different.

“Lucilla.”

The Guardian Duke, Lucilla.

A trace of my sister, or someone who might be my sister.

It sounded like he was saying I was walking the same path as her.

As I slowly lowered my sword, the shapeshifter’s eyes were watching me intently.

Why had she done it?

Why had my sister made such a choice?

I couldn’t understand.

Because she had to survive here?

Or because she thought it was right?

When I closed my eyes, I saw my sister. The sister who taught me many things and raised me.

My sister who always had a smiling face.

My sister was human. And as a human, she had natural instincts.

The desire to help those in need, and the belief that it’s better for people to live than to die.

I was the same. Even though I had become a monster, I still felt that way. It was right for people to live rather than die, and when I saw someone in need, I instinctively reached out.

It wasn’t because someone taught me. It was because it was my instinct.

All humans help those in need.

And the Three Clans were not human.

For their goal—though I didn’t know exactly what they were trying to achieve or what they were aiming for—

One thing was certain: it wouldn’t be good for humans.

A tremendous number of people would die.

And I didn’t like that.

If I could stop it, I wanted to.

It was the same now.

So I gripped my lowered sword firmly.

I raised the hilt, gripped with both hands, high and pointed the tip of the sword at the shapeshifter.

And sometimes, actions speak louder than a thousand words.

The middle-aged man silently lowered his eyes, sighed, scratched his nape vigorously, and then—

“Stupid kid.”

He said with a relieved voice.

What followed was transformation.

Crunch, crack, crrrunch!

His skeleton changed, fur covered his body, and his head transformed. Soon after, the beast-like form changed once more.

Whoooooooosh!

Until it was carved and reassembled into a two-legged monster.

“Owl bear…!”

As someone exclaimed in shock. It was indeed an owl bear.

An owl bear that had crudely borrowed a human form.

An overwhelming massive body that instilled fear and despair in those who beheld it.

Nevertheless, I would not yield.

[Mourning]

There was no room for hesitation.

[Remaining Duration: 60 seconds]

I simply gripped my sword firmly.